6-10-2023 Daytona Beach Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Gary “Do Not Give Up” I Kings 19;8-16, I Corinthians 9;24-27
Circumstances in my life have brought me back to this message “Do Not Give Up”. A lot of things like jobs or relationships are where you are told to not give up. Fight for what you need. They always tell you to not give up. There is no difference between our physical or spiritual life; we are to NOT give up. It’s hard and the closer you get to God, the harder it seems to be. We must remember the promise in the Bible that only those who make it to the end will be worthy of being next to the Father in Heaven.
In our text Elijah has just come from a great victory in chapter 18. The Lord kept asking him what was he doing in a cave. We wonder what happened to Elijah after his great victory in the Lord over the hundreds of false prophets. Why is he is now hiding in a cave? Elijah lived in a time when Sin has been legalized by the government. The government was corrupt and Sin was allowed to freely walk. The consequences of this Sin are always the same. There will be injustices, poverty, crime, violence and a society that will be far from God.
These are the times that we are living in right now. Where the world wants to live the way it wants to live with no rules. We know that apart from God, everything just falls apart. You see this happen over and over again. You can look back in the Old Testament and see how many times the Israelites left God’s purpose for them and His commandments. There were always bad consequences. As a human race we just don’t learn from our mistakes. We really don’t and you can see it happening over and over and over again.
Elijah’s life was not easy because he was opposed to everything the kings has institutionalized. He especially opposed Queen Jezebel. Jezebel began to hate Elijah in such a way that she became his enemy. She would not live in peace until she ended the life of this man. The situation got worse when Elijah, through God’s power, eliminated 800 prophets of the Queen’s religion. But God took care of Elijah in verse 5. When Elijah was sleeping, an angel woke him up to eat some food. The angel did this twice. This was God showing Elijah that He loved and cared for him. God showed that He still had plans for Elijah by sending the angel.
God will put people in our path who will tell us it is not the time to give up on our journey. God said that those who search for Him, will find Him. Those who search for Him, will find Him. That’s a big promise for us. Most of us have been in circumstances that we don’t want to be in. Problems that we don’t want to have. Some how we end up in need of a savior and God is always there. Even the times we think He is not there, God is there working for us. Whether its good or bad, for those who believe in God, it will work out!
We, who believe in Jesus as our Savior, have something that other people don’t have. We have an advantage over everybody else. And this is that no matter what we are going through and no matter how hard it is, we have a way out. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the Good News of today. If things in your life are complicated with issues, don’t give up. You still have a long way to go. I Corinthians 9;24-27 says for us to run in such a way as to get the prize. Our prize is to get the crown that will last forever. The Crown of Life. We must never give up on our salvation. We must do the Lord’s work and do what He has called us to do. Faith without works is dead. We must believe that God can put things back together again. We have to get on our knees in prayer saying “God do what you got to do to help me”. Do Not Give Up!!
AMEN
Circumstances in my life have brought me back to this message “Do Not Give Up”. A lot of things like jobs or relationships are where you are told to not give up. Fight for what you need. They always tell you to not give up. There is no difference between our physical or spiritual life; we are to NOT give up. It’s hard and the closer you get to God, the harder it seems to be. We must remember the promise in the Bible that only those who make it to the end will be worthy of being next to the Father in Heaven.
In our text Elijah has just come from a great victory in chapter 18. The Lord kept asking him what was he doing in a cave. We wonder what happened to Elijah after his great victory in the Lord over the hundreds of false prophets. Why is he is now hiding in a cave? Elijah lived in a time when Sin has been legalized by the government. The government was corrupt and Sin was allowed to freely walk. The consequences of this Sin are always the same. There will be injustices, poverty, crime, violence and a society that will be far from God.
These are the times that we are living in right now. Where the world wants to live the way it wants to live with no rules. We know that apart from God, everything just falls apart. You see this happen over and over again. You can look back in the Old Testament and see how many times the Israelites left God’s purpose for them and His commandments. There were always bad consequences. As a human race we just don’t learn from our mistakes. We really don’t and you can see it happening over and over and over again.
Elijah’s life was not easy because he was opposed to everything the kings has institutionalized. He especially opposed Queen Jezebel. Jezebel began to hate Elijah in such a way that she became his enemy. She would not live in peace until she ended the life of this man. The situation got worse when Elijah, through God’s power, eliminated 800 prophets of the Queen’s religion. But God took care of Elijah in verse 5. When Elijah was sleeping, an angel woke him up to eat some food. The angel did this twice. This was God showing Elijah that He loved and cared for him. God showed that He still had plans for Elijah by sending the angel.
God will put people in our path who will tell us it is not the time to give up on our journey. God said that those who search for Him, will find Him. Those who search for Him, will find Him. That’s a big promise for us. Most of us have been in circumstances that we don’t want to be in. Problems that we don’t want to have. Some how we end up in need of a savior and God is always there. Even the times we think He is not there, God is there working for us. Whether its good or bad, for those who believe in God, it will work out!
We, who believe in Jesus as our Savior, have something that other people don’t have. We have an advantage over everybody else. And this is that no matter what we are going through and no matter how hard it is, we have a way out. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the Good News of today. If things in your life are complicated with issues, don’t give up. You still have a long way to go. I Corinthians 9;24-27 says for us to run in such a way as to get the prize. Our prize is to get the crown that will last forever. The Crown of Life. We must never give up on our salvation. We must do the Lord’s work and do what He has called us to do. Faith without works is dead. We must believe that God can put things back together again. We have to get on our knees in prayer saying “God do what you got to do to help me”. Do Not Give Up!!
AMEN
