The Church of Eleven22 - I Believe. Help My Unbelief - Elijah: Wk 3

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

What do you do when you’re staring at an impossible situation? In the middle of famine and heartbreak, Elijah is confronted with what looks like an impossible situation — a widow’s son has died. Her hope is gone, and her faith is hanging by a thread. In this week’s message from 1 Kings 17, Pastor Joby shows us that even in the darkest moments, God invites us to bring what little faith we have and trust Him to do what only He can do. Elijah’s story reminds us that our hope isn’t in our circumstances — it’s in a God who hears, a God who moves, and a God who still brings life to dead places. 📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: From My Deathbed to Baptism – Millisa’s Story Why Does God Allow Suffering? - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin S22E3 Elijah Sermon Series About The Church of Eleven22 The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://coe22.com/donate 

Amen and amen and amen. How we do the church? Good. You look great. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, we're going to be in First Kings Chapter 17.

We're in week three on this study of Elijah. The reason we're studying this prophet is because this is the year where we're calling men to stand firm and act like men. And so, by the way, I hear we've got a little Bible study

going on, huh? How's that going? I'll be here this Tuesday. I haven't been here in a couple weeks since I've been out of town. I was in Africa and then Talladega, Alabama. Turns out they're basically the same place. That's what I figured out.

So I'll be here this Tuesday to leave. lead it, I'll see you there, we'll have Bibles and Black Coffee, that's all you need to follow Jesus. Amen. Hey, also, would you join me in welcoming Butler RMC as another prison that is an outpost for us, and they are streaming right now. So welcome, man, welcome, welcome, welcome. Now, a couple things here. So part of the reason I want to study Elijah is because we're going to find out later in James. The Bible says that he's a man just like us, that he does miraculous things and has big time fate sometimes and calls down fire. but he has the same kind of struggles that we have, the same kind of doubts, the same kind of fears,

the same kind of questions of God. And in the time that we're going to study today in 1st King 17, Elijah is going to find himself in what he thinks is an impossible situation. And some of you walk in here today and you feel like you're an impossible situation. And here's what I love. You have no idea I was about to come at you right now. I've warned you before, anytime you see the anointing oil on the table, you better buckle up buttercup because we're about to go to war, amen? And in about 45 minutes, that's what we're

going to do. We're going to do what the Bible says to do, and we're going to call the presence of God to come here and break chains of addictions and heal marriages and restore relationships and make doubts fall away and shame flee. We're going to ask for bodies to be healed. We're asking for demons. You got no place in here. You understand? Because you're going to know this pretty good. Finish this sentence. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Now, that's not some kind of clever marketing thing. came up with to sell books. No, no, no, no. The first time I ever said those words, I was having a conversation with a couple at 1122, and the dude, the husband said to me, I am in an impossible

marriage. I was like, what you mean impossible? You're a Christian, right? That's what I said. He goes, yeah, I'm a Christian. I was like, all right, well, then you believe that Jesus came out of the grave. Because if you don't, you're not a Christian. That's the whole point, that you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus was dead and was resurrected from the grave, and you call him Lord. That's what it means. And he says, of course I believe that Jesus was resurrected from the grave.

And then the first time it ever came down to my mouth, I said, okay, well, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And so what we're going to see here is Elijah finds himself in a place where he thinks he is in an impossible situation. And I think we should just do the same things that he did

when he was in that place. Pick it up in 1st King, chapter 17, verse 17. It says this. And after this, and the this is what Pastor Britt preached about last week. After this, the this is like really good. After this is when Elijah meets up with this widow,

and she starts out in a rough place. When they meet, she's like, hey, it ain't going good. I'm about to cook me a little bit of food. This is going to be the last meal that I'm going to cook. Me and my boy going to eat, and then we're going to die. And Elijah says, well, how about trust God and trust me? And won't you cook me some food first? And but first, she trusts God with the little bit that she has.

and then guess what? God shows up in a miraculous way. It was like the first miracle whip. Every time she'd whip up with some food, it was a miracle, and she just had breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day, every day. And she's thinking life is good. God is providing for me. God is blessed in me. Ain't it good? And then after this, it doesn't go good. Here's why I bring this up. Oftentimes, our greatest valleys come on the heels of mountaintop experiences. You ever notice that? I'm coming off a mountain top experience. I did camp last week with our high school,

which, praise God. It was a mountain top. First of all, I'm still alive, so praise God for that. It's better than last time. But also, we celebrated 42 high school kids putting their faith in Jesus Christ, and we baptized 148 students in the sketchiest pond I've ever been into my life, but whatever.

And oftentimes, though, coming right off a mountaintop Some of our greatest valleys. Pastor, where do you get that? Well, how about Jesus's temptation? Remember that? Jesus is in the desert led by the Spirit. He's fastened for 40 days and 40 nights. The Bible says he's hungry, you think?

You know when that comes? It comes right after the baptism of Jesus. That had to be a high holy monument for Jesus. God, the son, the second person of the Trinity, steps off of the throne and is born, humbles itself as a baby in a manger. He lives in utter obscurity for 30 years. From eternity past to the moment of the very first Christmas,

Jesus, God the Son, had been in this perfect love, submissive relationship with his father, where God, the Father's Son, and Holy Spirit just lavish love upon one another. Now, for 30 years, he is distant from that. And on the day he gets baptized, his cousin, John the baptizer, says, behold, the lamb who's come to take away the center of the world. Jesus walks into the Jordan. He gets dumped when he comes up out of the water. the Bible says that the heavens open up and God the Father speaks out loud over his son and says,

behold my son and whom I am well pleased. You feel pretty good when your daddy tells you good job. Can you imagine what it feels like for the father to put that kind of blessing on his son? It is a high holy moment in the very next verse and Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Pay very, very close attention. You see, some of you are. you're in the valley right now. I don't even have to explain it. The moment you saw the oil, like, oh boy, here we go.

That's what I need this. Some of you are going to be heading into some dark places. For some of you, man, life is good. Praise God. Praise God. This is why the Lord has given us the YouTube. You might want to bookmark this one, because you might not need it today.

There is coming a day where you're going to need this. What do you do when you find yourself in an impossible situation? We're going to find out what the widow does. It says after this, like after thing is, going really good. The son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. I've told you this 10,000 times, man, there's no pain like kid pain, right? No pain like kid pain. And the reason there's no pain like kid pain is because there is no love like kid love. Like you students, you don't even know what love is.

You think you know what love, you don't. I'm just telling you, you don't know. I mean, you love your mama back a little bit, but I'm just telling you, parents, when you had a baby, what happened? It's different, right? I love my wife. I love her so much. Been married 25 years. She's the jam, bro. I'm telling you, I love her.

If I tell her too much, I get all like, I get all weepy. I don't know what's wrong with me, all right? Put the men in menopause. That's what's wrong with me. We had them youngans, who, had a whole other well by which I could scoop up out of. It went deeper than I thought. And when something's wrong with your baby, what would you be willing to do? You're willing to do whatever it takes.

and don't run by this too quick. You see, you gifted class Bible students. You already know the end of the event. And so this is not just like filler for the end. No, no, no, no. This mama wakes up one day and her son can't breathe too good. You okay? I don't know.

I can't breathe good. And it gets worse and worse and worse. And then one day he has no breath left in him. And what would you do for your boy? He would do anything. Look at verse 18. And so she said to Elijah, what have you against me, old man of God? Like, what are you doing?

Is this my fault? Why would you do this to me? You have come to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son? All right, pop quiz. Is it okay to question God? There's a bunch of questions in the Bible to God. And he kept him in the Bible. Now, there's a significant difference between questioning God and

questioning whether he is God or not. These are not the same thing. But when you know that he is the God of the universe, apparently God can handle whatever question you want to throw at him. Where do you get that, pastor? The Bible? How about this one? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You ever felt like that? Way before Jesus ever quotes that one on the cross, David juts that one down. David's life was a train wreck, man. His boss is trying to kill him. His son is revolting against him. He's hiding in caves, trying not to die. And he gets to a couple of places in his life. He loses the child. And at one point, David cries out in prayer. Are you even paying attention? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the God of the universe is that.

That's good, Dave. You want to jot that one down. We're going to keep that one in Psalm 22. Because there's going to be some of my people that are going to feel like that for the rest of human history, and they're going to want to cling to that. When you ever feel like that? Yeah, apparently it's okay to ask God questions. I mean, even Jesus does it. Jesus does it in the Garden of Gassimini, does he not? That he's praying, he's sweating like drops of blood. That's some intense prayer.

And he says, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. God, can you fix this? Can you do something about this? Yeah, that's the kind of prayer Jesus pray. It's like Psalm 42. when the psalmist says this, as a deer pants for streams of running water, so my soul thirst for you, God. This is a psalm of desperation. I've told you before, we have ruined this psalm with the Baptist bookstore picture of a deer standing by a brook with eight points just begging for a lung shot.

Just standing there. And the song we made up, as the dear panteth for, you ain't pantathing for nothing. nothing. This is a deer being chased by somebody like me trying to kill it and he thinks it's going to die and it's in a place of utter desperation. And the psalmist is saying, God, if you don't do something, I ain't going to make it. This is how the woman is praying. And so she says, all right, is this how this works? Have you come here to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son? Is this how this works, God? What did you do? Just set me up for failure? did you bless me with this miraculous oil and bread so that you could just take my son out?

Is that how it works? Well, here's something wonderful about the Bible that we have. I hope you love this word. You see, the best way to study the Bible is always use the Bible as commentary into itself. So is this how it works? Is God, like, when you go through the valley of the shadow of death, is it punitive? Is God like repaying you from your sin from back in college by making your kid get sick today? Is that how it works?

and we know that the answer is absolutely not. Because in John chapter 9, Jesus and the disciples, they roll up on this blind guy. And the disciples ask that question, Jesus, why is this man blind? Is it his fault? Did he sin or is it his parents sin? And he goes, no, no, no, no, it don't work like that. That ain't how it works. You see, this man was born blind for the glory of God. Watch this.

You see, when Jesus pushes up on his nail-pressed feet and says, it is finished, Jesus pays the full and final payment and price for our sin. And so all of the punishment that we deserved was heaped out upon Jesus. Therefore, we do not receive that kind of punitive punishment from God. And so then sometimes people will say, okay, well, if God is loving and God is all powerful, then why do bad things happen to good people? Well, the biggest problem with that question is you assume you're good, but I understand what you're saying.

There was only one good person, his name was Jesus, the worst thing ever happened to him, so that we may have life. But I get what you mean. Compared to the nightly news in your college roommate, you're pretty good, all right? So why do bad things happen? I can give you the theological reasons, ready? But if you're walking through it, it ain't going to hurt you any. I mean, it's not going to help you any.

When you're in the hurt locker, sometimes this is not going to help. But here's why do bad things happen? Number one, collateral damage of sin. That when Adam and Eve rejected God in sin enter the world, they held the door open for all the pain, all the strife, all the shame, all the regret that you've ever experienced. And everything was cursed at the macro level. So we got tsunamis that wipe out.

villages all the way down to the micro level so people don't keep their promises and cells won't even obey. So sometimes it's just collateral damage of sin. Number two, sometimes it's a direct attack of the enemy that we have an enemy, a thief, he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Sometimes it is demonic attack. And some people are like, do you mean you tell me you believe in demons? Uh-huh. And if you don't, you're too dumb to talk to. I mean, what do you think it is? You ever met somebody with an addiction that you love? You ever heard them talk about it? Hey, I feel like there's this thing in me.

I don't want to go down this road anymore because I know where that thing lives, but then sometimes as if there's something else baiting me down a road to kill me. What do you think that is? Just poor choices? Or the human trafficking of children? What do you think that is?

Different worldview. No, no, that's called evil. So sometimes bad things happen. It's collateral damage of sin. Sometimes it's demonic attack. And sometimes it happens because you're stupid. I mean, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And so God will forgive us of all sin.

He does not necessarily rescue us from the consequences of our dumb decisions. Can I tell you the number of times, somebody's coming to me, pastor, please pray for me. The devil's attacking my finances. Okay, tell me about them. After they tell me a little bit of details, I go, well, I got good news and bad news. You're right. You're being attacked, but you're the devil because you're an idiot. You're buying stuff you don't need when money you ain't got.

The devil doesn't have to mess with you. These are self-inflicted wounds. Sometimes it's the result of our own bad decisions. Sometimes the reason bad things happen is because other people sin against you. Like it wasn't your fault that you got molested. Wasn't your fault that you got abused. Other people did evil things, and you were the target. So why do bad things happen?

Collateral damage of sin, attack of the enemy, consequences of our own dumb decisions, other people sin, and then the fifth one is this. This is the hardest one to get your mind around. But no matter what it is, God is. sovereign over it all. That it all had to pass through the hands of God. I mean, Romans 828 says, for God, is at work in all things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose.

And sometimes God himself hands out pain because you got to keep reading in Romans 828. It gets to Romans 829 and it says, and the reason that God is at work in all these things is that we would be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. And so sometimes God, himself. will hand out pain to conform us to be more like Jesus. Where do you get that? The Bible.

Joseph from the Old Testament. By the time you get to Genesis chapter 50, do you know what this brother has been through? Domestic violence, human trafficking, false imprisonment. Does that sound like the will of God? I remember when I was in high school, people would always say this. The safest place you can be is in the center of God's will. Like, have you met Jesus?

It didn't work out good for him. It killed him on a cross. And so Joseph at this point has been elevated to vice president of all of Egypt, and his brothers who beat him and sold him into slavery are there. They think he's going to kill him, and he looks at them and he says this, am I not in the place that God has for me? For what you intended for evil, God intended for good, not used for good. God doesn't play second fiddle.

God doesn't drive an ambulance. He's not waiting on a 911 call to come up and clean up our mess. sometimes God actually hands out pain. Paul gets a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble. One of my least favorite things is Jesus looks at Peter, right at the end of his life, he looks at Peter and he goes, hey Peter, the devil is going to sift you, but I'll pray for you. If I'm Peter, I'm like, how about don't let him sift me? What does that even mean?

So God is in charge of these things. And so what do you do? What do you do when you find yourself in a place that just doesn't make sense? What do you do with your questions and your doubts and God, what are you doing? Well, again, I've said this before. We always want to allow the Bible to be commentary unto itself. And the reason that we study the Old Testament is we're not just looking for character traits of these Old Testament characters. That's not what we're doing.

What we're always doing when we study the Bible, the Old Testament, is we're looking for Jesus. because he's on every page of the scriptures. And we don't unhitch from the Old Testament because Jesus fully and finally fulfilled all of the promises and prophecies of the Old Covenant. You see, we know this because after Jesus' resurrection on the road to Emmaus, seven miles outside of Jerusalem, Jesus bums into two of the disciples, and he's resurrected Jesus, out of the grave Jesus. And he looks at him, he goes, why you're so sad? And they're like, bro, do you not know what's going on? I mean, our Messiah was crucified.

And then Jesus, the way that he proves himself to the disciples is not, here I am, that's not what he does. The Bible says that he takes the old covenant and he marches them through a Bible study to show them how all the things in the Old Testament point to him. And so a part of the way we can understand what this widow is going through in 1st, King 17, is we can look at other places where similar things happen in the life and work of Jesus. So flip over to Mark chapter 9. There's a lot of similarities in this event and the event with the widow.

You got a parent with a sick kid. You've got a parent that feels like they are in an impossible situation. In both of these events, they're coming off a high holy moment. In Mark chapter 9, they're coming off this mountain, literally a mountain top experience. It's called the Mountain of Transfiguration. Jesus is going to go up on this mountain to be with his father. He takes Peter, James, and John with him. And there the Bible says that he is transfigured.

It's described in Mark 9 and also Matthew chapter 17. We don't even know what it means to be transfigured. It's like this metaphysical reality where he displays his glory and yet still he is in bodily figure Jesus. The Bible says that his face shines like lightning, shines like the sun. Meanwhile, Elijah, our guy, pops up on the scene. He's been gone for 400 years. Moses, who's been gone for almost a thousand years, he pops up on the scene. They're talking to each other.

I think this is the manifestation of what Paul talks about in Romans chapter. three, once you had to explode, how about this? In Romans chapter three, Paul says, for no one will be declared righteous by works of the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to a righteousness manifested apart from the law. You're like, what does that mean? That's literally what's happening on the mountain of transfiguration. The guy that wrote the law, Moses, and the number one prophet, Elijah, are bearing witness to an alien righteousness that has come to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. Your head ought to explode. Meanwhile, that's happening, Peter sees the situation, glorified Christ, Moses back from the dead, Elijah never

died, he took a fire Uber up to heaven, but he's back 400 years later. They're chatting, and Peter is like, you know, this would be a good time to talk about me a little bit, sticks his dumb and head in there, he goes, it is good that we are here. Remember that? And then Peter wants to stay there, because moments matter, man. He's like, this is great. We'll get tents for everybody and we'll just live up here forever. And Jesus is like, that ain't going to work. Because we were not meant to sit and soak up on the Mount top, even though moments matter, because most of the ministry happens down there in the valley. So, boys, we got work to do. So he says, come with me. And they go trotting down the hill

to the bottom of the valley. And then while they're on the way down the hill, Jesus shares the gospel with them. He's like, boys, write this down. I'm going to be arrested, tried, crucified, dead buried, don't worry, third day, be resurrected from the grave. Keep this to yourself until I pull off Easter, nobody will believe it. Ready to break. That's what they do. They get down to the bottom and the rest of the disciples are arguing with the scribes and the Pharisees while they're sick kids over there getting no help. Mark chapter 9 it goes this way. And when they, that's Peter, James John, Jesus. When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them and immediately all the crowd when they saw Jesus, they were greatly amazed and they ran

up to him and they greeted him. And Jesus asked them, what are you arguing about with them? Now listen, in my very less than humble opinion, this is a picture of the modern church. They're in some kind of denominational battle about who's doing it right and who's not doing it right. And while they're arguing with each other about what songs they should sing or how you're supposed to dress at church, meanwhile, there's a demon-possessed boy over here that needs Jesus and the religious people, including the disciples, and got time for him. So I'm just here to tell you, listen, if you're some keyboard warrior that wants to just spend all your time criticizing about how everybody else ain't doing it right, you're in the right.

you're in the wrong place. Ain't nobody got time for that. What we are about is the father's business, taking the good news of the gospel, to the people that actually need the gospel. We're not going to argue with other ministries about who's doing it right and wrong. And someone from the crowd answered him,

teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. Now again, don't read by this too quickly. Again, man, if you grow up with veggie tales or flannelgraft, you already know the end of the story. but it's not a story it's not a story this isn't a made-up thing

this is an actual event this is a dude man just like us it's got a name he's got a job he's got a home address his buddy's probably got a nickname for him he argues with his wife every day too

about the same thing what do you want to eat it don't matter well how about this well not that thought you said it didn't matter all the same thing and he's got a sick kid and he's hurt he's heard maybe, maybe this guy, maybe the rumors are true.

I've heard there's a guy here in Galilee and that he walks on water and he can feed people with a little bit of bread and fish. And I heard that he can cast demons out. And I heard he even brought back a little girl from the dead. And what if it's true? And if it's true, I'm willing to risk everything to get my boy to him. Because look, Mom and Dad, what would you do for your kid? You'd do anything, wouldn't you? He'd sell the boat, sell the house, reorient your entire life if it means healing for your kid.

Matthew 17 says that the man falls down on his face and cries out. I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him huge. This is a real guy, man, just like me and you. And he finds himself in what he thinks is an impossible situation. Then he explains it, talking about his son in verse 18. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down. and he foams and he grunts his teeth and he becomes rigid. And so I ask your disciples to cast it out and they were not able.

Yeah, they're too busy arguing with each other. You know, this dad is desperate. And the church folks are of no use, no help. If you want to make God happy, you should probably read the Bible about the things that bless the heart of God and the things that anger God. If you read through the four Gospels, every single time the disciples turned inward and made it about themselves, Jesus was not pumped, man.

Like in Matthew chapter 20, when the mom of the sons of Zebedee went to Jesus, it was like, hey, can you elevate my sons to right and left of you? And Jesus was like, no, man, what are you talking about? It doesn't work like that. And every single time that the disciples were conduits of the grace of God instead of a cul-de-sac, Jesus high-fived them. Like when they fed the 5,000, that was through the hands of the disciples. So warning church, we were never going to be a church that just turns in the

and just takes care of us. We're always going to be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And our yes is on the table and we're saying, God, please use us. That's not the posture here. And this dad is in a desperate place. He's like, it seizes him, it throws him down,

he foams and grinds his teeth, he becomes rigid. I ask your disciples to cast it out and they were not able. Verse 19, Jesus is not happy. And he answered, the most faithless generation, how long I'm about to be with you, how long I'm about to bear with you, bring him to me, and they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw him immediately, it convulsed the boy, he fell on the ground, rolled about foaming at the mouth. By the way, this is very interesting in the Gospels.

The demons were always the first one to recognize the Son of God, and the religious people were the last. Thought I'd scare the mess out of you. The reason is because the demons saw him for who he is, the Son of God. They didn't trust him and believe in him, but they recognized him. religious people didn't know who he was because he didn't fit in their religious box. He didn't look like they thought he was going to look. He didn't say the things they thought he was going to say. They were three feet from the son of God.

They could smell the breath of God and they were not filled with the breath of God because their religion overtook him. It's a big fat warning. So Jesus asked the father, how long has this been happening to him? And the dad says, listen to this, from childhood. He doesn't say from birth. There are Greek words where he could have said from the day he was born. He's been like this.

It's not what he says. So do you get this? The mom and dad, you know, they bring the little boy home from the hospital. That's not how it works, but you know. And when they first get that thing, man, it's just hope, joy, promise, potential, right? They're praying big prayers. They're dreaming big dreams. They're looking at this little boy.

Look at my boy. Oh, he looks just like me. Maybe you'll grow up and be a rabbi. Maybe he'll play for the Jags. Who knows? You know? Then at some point along the way, one of the parents, they're like, I don't think something's right. Like something's off here.

And there's always that one parent that denies it. No, you don't say that out loud. No, we're not talking like that. And the other parents are on web MD all the time. But like, oh, it's worse than I thought. And then at some point it gets undeniable. And panic sets in. And the dad says, and it has often cast him into a fire and into water,

to destroy him. Listen, if you ever go to Israel with me, I'm gonna take you to the sea of Galilee. And into the first century, there's open fires everywhere. They don't have microwaves and air friars. They cook on an open fire. And the moment breakfast is done,

you gotta start lunch and then dinner. There's open fire everywhere and they're by the sea of Galilee. In other words, every step my boy takes, the enemy is trying to steal, kill, and destroy him. Can you please do something for us? And then the dad goes on. I want you to hear the desperation and trembling in his voice.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And you go, what do you mean us? I thought it was the boy. Come on, we all know. You got a sick kid. It's us. Now notice what he's doing. The dad is not making a deal.

He's asking for a favor. The dad knows I bring no merit to this. The dad's not like, all right, if I support your ministry, will you heal him? If I go to Bible study, Tuesday morning, six weeks in a row, will you heal him? If I quit drinking so much during the week, will you heal him? He is not trying to make a deal. Because this dad knows he is powerless and he's just asking for a favor for help. And so Jesus responds.

Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for the one who believes. And this next prayer is the most honest prayer in our whole Bible maybe. Verse 24, immediately. So Jesus says out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. This is what immediately spills out. He doesn't think about it. He doesn't have to do a Bible study about it. Immediately, the father of the child cried out.

This is not a little quiet. I have an unspoken. That ain't this. He screams out. I believe. And help my unbelief. Here I've been there. This dad's like, I want to believe, I kind of believe, I've heard stories, I'm hoping to believe, I mean, you're here.

So, and I'm here. I brought him, and I believe, except when I look around at my circumstances, my boy over here, he's still sick and he's still hurting. And in fact, if I put it on a scale, I think my unbelief might actually be bigger than my belief. And so I kind of believe, and I sort of believe, and I want to believe, but can you help me with this unbelief? He says, I believe, help my unbelief. What a prayer. By the way, the widow in First King, she's in the same place. Man of God, what is going on here?

Is this my fault? Is God punishing me? What are you even doing? Let me ask you this. Has you ever been there? I've been there a bunch. Now, if you need your pastor to be like super faiths guy that never doubts and never questions, you might want to go somewhere else.

because I'm telling you, man, I've been there before. I mean, about a decade ago, when my brother and sister-law, Justin and Maggie, lost their child at 36 weeks, I mean, they're so awesome. Justin is the assistant manager at the retreat center, Maggie's Gretchen's sister. They love the Lord.

They've been praying for a baby. She gets pregnant with all these hopes and dreams. And then one day, He just doesn't feel it moving and goes to the hospital. And Little Nash had passed away. And then to add insult, the injury, man, you got to go to the hospital and deliver your dead baby. And they took pictures and sent us pictures.

And you look at them. And he just looks so, I mean, he's little chubby with hair. And he's like, all right, just wake up. God, what are you doing? I mean, what are you doing? I believe, you've got to help me with this one. And then the next Sunday, we're in church. and the first song we sing is the song about He Gives Life,

that He gives us breath in our lungs. I'm like, I believe that you do that, God. So why not this time? You ever been there? Or my best friend dies? Brad Bowen, man. You're sitting in the seats that Brad built. He'd given his whole life to help us build churches.

And he and I go on this epic hunt, man. We're in Scotland chasing red stag. We hike up in the highlands. He dies with a massive heart attack. It doesn't come home. Oh, that's I believe. You got to help me with this one, God. I mean, I got a long list of people that I'd love to send to heaven and hell, quite honestly.

How are you going to take out the guy that literally is doing your work? I don't understand. When Elder Petey goes down with a stroke last year, I mean, God is miraculously healed him, praise God for that. But I'm telling you, man, how are you going to stroke out Petey? The guy's giving his whole life to help oversee this church. So when Pastor Ben gets brain cancer? And we're standing in the hospital with him and they say you got about 18 months to live. You're like, what are you, what?

One of the biggest ones that shaped the whole trajectory of this church is years ago when we were a service at Beach, I get this phone call, that there's this 15-year-old girl who's at Wolfson Hospital with kind of a rare brain disease. They don't know what's going on. We heard she just got saved four weeks before. So Pastor Ben and I get in the truck, we head to Wilson's. We walk in. The place is full of high school kids. and we walk into McKenzie Wilson's hospital room. And I see this beautiful 15-year-old blonde-headed girl all hooked up to the things,

and step her mom was laying in the bed and Blake her dad standing there. And they're looking to me for answers. And honestly, I got nothing, man. I just cried. I just cried. I couldn't stop crying. I was like, I am so sorry. I know y'all probably expecting me to say something awesome.

But all I can think about is I got a one-year-old little beautiful blonde at my house, too. And they said, they just said, well, you come back tomorrow. And so I went home and I got all prayed up. And I said, all, Lord, I got this thing figured out. I'm going to take this anointing oil in there. Stay with me, God. Why don't we do it this way? Okay.

How about I roll up in that room. I'm a shared a gospel with Blake and Steph. They did come to Christ. Their whole family did in the hospital room. But I'm going to walk up in that room. I'm going to an anoint McKenzie with oil. And the name of Jesus, say, get up out this bed. I'm going to take her by the hand.

We walk out into the waiting room. And 300 bowls kids are going to get saved because you're going to see the mighty works God. and revival will break out. Doesn't that sound like a good plan, God? I mean, one time in the Bible, you healed a lady by accident. You're on the way to Jericho's house and healed his son, just lady touches the hymn of the garment, and you're like, who touched me?

So if you can do that on accident, how about do you do this one on purpose, God? Come on. Pray, pray, pray. She passed away the next day. I believe. Help my unbelieve. I still wear the bracelet for the McKinsey Foundation. Right on top of that, Talaki, one of our very own guys, battling cancer right now,

I'm praying for him. Help me make sense of that. I'm telling you, if God let me be in charge, Christians wouldn't get cancer. It would be a rule. Terrorists would get cancer. That's how I would do it. The moment you made a plan, like, let's get them.

You'd be like, gone. That's what I'd do. But he didn't ask me. And it was crazy. I've prayed for healing, and sometimes it works. Like Ben and Petey and Joy and Tina and Amy, all healed. and then sometimes they don't.

You ever been there? For some of us, it's not physical pain, man. That's relational pain. Like you stood in an altar a bunch of years ago, and you promise, I will never leave you or forsake you till death to his part. And that other person didn't keep their promise. And it's like you got stabbed in the heart.

Or if you got a prodigal kid, oh man. You know, and you're like, God, what happened? I thought I did it right. I took it to VBS, I read the Jesus story book Bible. I mean, I'm not perfect, but I tried to raise them in the ways of you, and now they've given me the finger and you the finger and they won't come home. Or the worst, if you've lost a child. Here's one I can't get my head around. I've been doing this a long time, man.

And I don't know a bunch of you struggle with infertility. Theologically, I understand we live in a broken world. We have broken bodies, but I still can't get this one. The number of couples here that just want a baby, doesn't that seem like a legit desire of the heart? I mean, they love Jesus, they love each other, they're doing things right, and they can't make a baby. They just want to raise little disciples. And then to make it worse, it seems like the most unfit humans on the planet just happen to be the most fertile and can't stop making them. You're like, God, I believe you've got to help me with this one.

Or maybe it's your mental health. This is one of the hardest ones for Christians to deal with. Because on the surface, everything's okay, okay? Like you got a job and you're eating hot food and you live indoors. and you should be filled with the joy of the Lord. But when you wake up in the morning, you can't turn happy, y'all. And you just fight, fear, and shame, and loneliness and depression. And you're like, what is wrong with me?

Or addiction? Yeah, maybe that's you. Listen, I've told you before, man. I ain't got time to play church. If you're going to play church, this is probably, it's not going to be a good spot for you. be real uncomfortable. Because the fake He was doing just fine. Leave her on Instagram.

She's great. But a real Jesus is not on the real cross for the real you. And if you want to have some victory over the enemy, if you fight the devil in the dark, you're going to get your tail kicked. You want to be free. You've got to be honest. And a part of what we do is we take these things that feel impossible. And like this guy did, and like this widow is going to do,

you bring them to the presence of God and say, God, I believe, and can you help me with the parts of where I'm not believing too good? and Jesus meets this man right where he is. What he doesn't say to him is, I tell you what? What you mean you don't believe? You go to men's Bible study for six weeks and then come back to me. And when your faith gets up to a miracle level, then that's not what he says. He meets the man right there in the darkest moment of his life.

Verse 25, and when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you mutant death spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. and after crying out and convulsing him terribly it came out and the boy was like a corpse so that most of them said he is dead but jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose by the way this is a picture of what's going to happen on easter because jesus walked out of the tomb because he lives then we can face tomorrow that's what he's saying verse 28 and when he had entered the house the disciples asked him privately because they know they've screwed up and they're in trouble they say why can we not cast it out

And Jesus said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Let me ask you, is prayer for you a first response or a last resort? Sometimes people say, well, I guess all we can do is pray. We mean all you can do is pray. The most powerful thing that you could ever do is align yourself with the only one that can do what we need him to do. And prayer is the most powerful thing that we can do. And the disciples like, oh yeah, we forgot to pray. In fact, the way Matthew ends it as this.

Matthew says it this way. Matthew 1710. And then the disciples came to Jesus privately saying, why couldn't we cast it out? And he said to them because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, that's tiny, tiny little bit of faith.

You will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. Here's what I love as a rain pours. Let's go. here's what I love. It's not the amount of faith that you have. It's the object of faith that matters. So even if you've got a tiny little itsy-bitsy bit of faith, it is a gift from God.

And you take your little tiny, I believe, but I kind of don't believe also. You take that little tiny faith and you put it in the almighty everlasting God. It is exponentially more powerful than taking all of your trust in faith and putting it in your circumstances. That's what Jesus says to do. So back to Elijah and the boy. This widow feels just like the dad. So back to 1st King 17. And Elijah said to her, after she says, what are we even doing here?

And Elijah says, sir, give me your son. And he took him from her arms, and he carried him up to the upper chamber where he lodged and he laid him on his own bed. And he cried out to the Lord. us out. Elijah, we're going to find out, and James is a man like us. And so he's got questions like us. Elijah don't know what's happening. Guess what? Do you know how many people get resurrected from the grave in the Bible? 10, 10 times this happens. First King, 17, is the first time. So it's not like Elijah can go to pre- First King. He can't go to like Samuel and Exodus and be like, remember how you did it back then for Moses? Will you do it for me? This has never happened before.

And so he has questions. And here's the question he asks, Oh, Lord, my God, have you brought calamity upon the widow with whom I sojourned by killing her son? And so Elijah finds himself in an impossible situation, and yet he doesn't mind asking God for the impossible. So here's what he does.

He takes the boy up on the bed, lays him down, and then look at verse 21. Then he stretched himself upon the child three times. He just lays on him. Why? I don't know. And he does it three times. I wonder after the first time, is he like, is this working?

Here's what's crazy is in Second Kings, there's another prophet. This is very confusing. The names are too close. Elijah doesn't die. He just, like I said, takes a fire Uber up to heaven. God just goes and gets him, all right? But before he raises up, Elisha and gives him a double anointing, passes the torch to him.

And so for Elisha to show the nation of Israel that he's walking in the same power of God that Elijah does, he brings back a kid too. He bumps under this chunamite woman. She's barren without a kid, and he says, I got good news. You're going to have a baby next year. She's like, don't mess with me. And then sure enough, she has a kid. The kid grows and grows and grows, and then one day that kid gets sick and die.

And then Elijah shows up to the chunemite woman says, how you doing? You doing all right? She's like, I ain't doing all right. I ain't doing all right. What are you doing? I didn't even ask for a kid. Kid wasn't my idea. It was your idea.

Did you just give me this kid to curse me? And Elisha's like, all right, give me that kid. And Elisha takes that kid, puts him up in the bedroom, and it says this in Second Kings 4. It says, when Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. And so he went in and shut the door behind the two of them, and he prayed to the Lord. And he went up, and he lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. I'm glad this is in the Old Testament, because I ain't laying up on nobody. You understand?

I mean, I don't an anoint you with oil. Can you imagine? He didn't lay down. And you're like, no, I ain't doing it. He stretched himself upon him, and the flesh of the child became more. And there goes on to say he breathed seven times into his mouth, and then the kid sneezes seven times, and then he brings him back. He goes, behold, you're a boy. Elijah does the same thing.

By the way, both Elijah and Elijah laying on the boy is a picture of what Christ does for us at the cross. The Christ covers us, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand, and he absorbs the full wrath of God that we receive the blessing of God because of what Jesus. Jesus has done for us. That's what this is a picture of. And so Elijah lays up on the child three times and cried to the Lord, oh Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again. He's asking for the impossible. Verse 22, and the Lord listen to the voice of Elijah. Please hear me. God hears you. He's a good dad, and he hears you. I know you've been praying for your prodigal to come home for 10 years. He hears you. I know you've been praying to have a baby for seven years. He hears you. I know you've been praying for your body to be healed and he hears you. Now does he always answer your prayer?

Yep. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes not now, sometimes see you in heaven. And sometimes he might give you a baby and sometimes you might give you a peace that transcends all understanding so that while you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil because he is with you. He does not always give us what we want. but he always gives us him. And this is how we can sing, all my life you have been faithful. You can bury your best friend

and say, all my life, you have been faithful. You can pray and have not answered the prayer you want, and you can say, all my life, you have been faithful. Why? Because we have an advantage over Elijah and Elisha. Because we see our circumstances through the empty tomb. And we know that God has demonstrated

his love for us in this, not necessarily by fixing our circumstances, but why we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. So Elijah goes up into the room and he prays for the boy. And the Bible says, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah says, see, your son lives. That because the son of God lives, that's why we can face tomorrow.

And so why do we pray and ask God? Because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Paul in Romans 8 is going to say it this way. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who could be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Does that mean God always answers our prayers?

No, because he writes it on the heels of chapter 8, verse 18. He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not. not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Life is hard and God is good. How do you say that? Because he lives. And the Bible says that by his stripes we are healed, not always cured, but we are healed. Sometimes on this side of heaven and sometimes when we walk with him, but we know life is hard

because of sin and God is good. And the cross in the empty tomb proves it. Verse 24 and the woman said to Elijah, now I know, that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true. Now the reason that you and I can know is not because of our circumstances, but it's because of the cross and the empty tomb. So this woman, the widow, and this dad, they had a need, and they prayed and they asked God. And so what do you do when you find yourself in need?

Well, the good news is, is the book of James lays out exactly what the church is supposed to do when we find ourselves in need. James, the brother of Jesus, says this in James 513, and we're going to just do what the word says. It says, is anyone among you suffering? And some of you are suffering, relationally, physically, financially, mentally, mentally. He says, let him pray. We're going to pray. Because this kind can only be cast out through prayer. And then it says, is anyone cheerful? Praise God. Some of us are cheerful, man. and it says you go sing praise so in just a minute we're going to have some people a bunch of deacons and elders and pastors and all kind of folks lining up here to pray for you and we have two categories of people in the

room and online we're going to have prayers and praisers and everybody's doing the same thing everybody's going to pray and praise that the spirit of god would move in a miraculous way and do things that only god can do then he says is anyone among you sick Some of you are physically sick. Some of you are relationally sick. You feel like you're an impossible marriage or your spouse left or your best friend ghosted you. Some of you are mentally, it ain't right. You got suicidal thoughts.

You just can't turn happy on. Some of you are just in depression. And you need for the Lord to do something in your life. Some of you are full of shame and condemnation and fear. Some of you are bound up by addictions. And it's time that God breaks the chains of these addictions. Listen, I just got to say this. If you're a female from 15 to 25, I've been doing this a long time.

In the last few years, I have seen an epidemic of oppression. I mean, beautiful girls that are just full of shame and guilt. And I need you to be able to somehow, by the power of the Spirit of God, to understand that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, that God's works are wonderful. You're one of those because if you could see yourself the way God sees you, if you could understand that you were valuable, you're so valuable that God purchased you with the blood of his son, then you could begin to walk in the freedom that he has purchased for you instead of live under this blanket of oppression that the world has laid on you. And so we're going to pray, man. We're going to pray. And it says this, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil. So I got oil from Israel, so it's, you know, from Israel.

And an oil is just a physical representation of the Spirit of God being dumped out on you. Now, if you're in Christ, the Spirit of God actually lives in you, it's better. It's like you're marinated in it. But as that oil goes on you in the shape of a cross, it's just to remind you that God sees you and God hears you. God has a purpose and a plan for you. It says, anoint him with oil. Listen, I'm not a faith healer. I'm just a Bible believer.

We're just going to do what it says. It says, anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. And the Lord will raise him up. And listen, man, we're going to pray. We're going to pray big, bold, audacious, like earth-shaking kind of prayers. We're going to prays like Presbyterians. If you're a Presbyterian, you need to pray like charismatic.

You understand? We're going to pray so bold it's going to make you uncomfortable. If your prayers aren't. intimidating to you that might be insulting to God. Because the Bible says you have not, because you ask not. And so we're going to pray that chains of addiction will fall off and marriages will be restoring. Products will come home and cancer will flee bodies.

That's the kind of thing we're going to pray. You got it? It says, in the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The Bible says, by his stripes, we are healed. So we're going to pray for the healing that comes through faith in Jesus. And the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

And everybody up there praying is righteous, not because of their consistent right activity, because of their right relationship with God based on the blood of Jesus. And then James gives a shout out to our guy. Elijah, that's our guy. Elijah was a man with the nature like ours. Sometimes it's going good, and he's going to call fire down from heaven with bold faith. Sometimes it ain't going so good, and the brook dries up. and he's full of doubt and desperation.

You ever been like that? Good news. You can make a great disciple. He says, Elijah was a man with the nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain for three years and six months. It did not rain on the earth. And then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. And if God controlled the weather, then he can move in your situation.

So maybe, like the woman, maybe like Elijah, you, maybe like the dad, you find yourself in a tough situation. The Bible says, anyone among you sick. The Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick. And some of you are beginning to lose hope. And we're going to pray for hope. Because if the tomb is empty, there is hope. Because anything is possible.

And so I'm going to invite everybody to stand. I'm going to invite our prayers and our anointers to make your way down here right now. and I'm going to tell you if you need God to move and maybe it's not in your life maybe you're like the widow, maybe you're like the dad and maybe there's a loved one that you have and they're sick or they're depressed or they're in a tough situation

and you just want to come on their behalf and the best thing you can come up with is this I believe but I need some help with my unbelief can we pray for this person that I'm going to start praying and don't even wait until I say amen this might take a minute You don't want to go outside anyway. It's raining so hard.

You can't get to your car. God made that happen so you would not be tempted to run out of here. The only thing that's going to keep you in your seat is fear, and God did not give you a spirit of fear. So if you need the Spirit of God to move in your life, then we're going to do what the Bible says. We're going to be obedient to him, and we're going to ask God to do what only God to do,

to heal, to give hope, to restore. And so won't you come and be prayed for? You can come as I begin to pray. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love Him more than anything because you first love us. God, I thank you and praise you that you hear your people's prayers. And God, I thank you and praise you that the prayers of a righteous person availeth much. And we are only righteous because of what Jesus did for us gives us a right standing before you.

And Jesus, when you died on the cross and you pushed a bone in your nail, pierce feet, and you says it is finished that it tore the curtain from the top to the bottom. And you gave your children an invitation into the king's chambers. And you say, ask and ask and keep on asking. And so, God, we ask you to move. We ask that forgiveness would be poured out. We ask you that hearts would be healed. We ask you that cancer would be cured.

We ask you that marriages would be restored. We ask you that prodigal children would come home. God, we ask you that despair and depression would go away. God, that we would be filled up with you. God, do what only you can do. God, we believe and we ask you to help us with our unbelief. God, we do it in the name and the power. of the blood of Jesus. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So let's pray and let's praise. Let's respond.