Elijah’s Journey

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Ah, yeah, God bless

No More Fear Series Introduction

you. Wherever you are, we thank you so much for joining us right now at this moment in time. Whether you are listening to this through podcast or whether you are reading this through our literature that we are putting out there. This book, we're in chapter 9 and we're in podcast 9, and they tie together. So we thank God for your life wherever you are. The title of this series right now is No More Fear. We've been looking at some great characters in the Word of God. We've been looking at some obscured characters in the Word of God. We've been looking at human beings, you know, fear. What a powerful emotion fear is. But there is no more fear. The Bible says perfect love drives out fear. And wherever you are at this hour, at this moment, I want to just take this 30 minutes, you know, just to lay out across the table of life just another character from the Bible that was grappling, that was rumbling around with fear, that he was wrestling with fear. He saw miracles, he see the power of God. He was called just like yourself. God is with you, God is doing amazing things in your life. It might not look like it because suddenly we have fear that comes in like a wave, and suddenly this fear beat, this this fear situation, this this very real situation becomes tangible, becomes touchable, and this fear situation seems to override our faith and our trust in God. But that is just a natural emotion. That doesn't mean to say that we're lacking faith in any which way, shape, and form, because the Bible exposes so many characters, and I I use the word expose, and I don't mean that in a bad way, but it just clearly tells us that these characters have been afraid. And you can even look at Gideon, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, you know, all these characters through the Word of God experience times of fear. Fear is very, very real. It's very common, it's a real deep emotion, you know, that nestled in our being. And many biblical characters have experience, even walking in faith, even walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, even walking in these deep theological depths that we walk in, the Bible doesn't hide their fears, and that's what I love about the Word of God. It doesn't hide anything. You know, the Bible reveals it, and that's what is so important for us and for me and for you, wherever you are across the world listening to this, that the Bible doesn't hide their fears, it reveals them. It's so important for me to realize that the Bible reveals our fears and our humanity, and by doing that, what it does, it shows how God meets us when we are weak. You know, there's powerful examples in the Word of God. It might be worth, if you've got time, to do a bit of a summary for yourself once you've read this book or you've listened to these 10 series of podcasts, uh just looking at fear, just we're just laying a blanket out. Fear is such an enormous word, it's so powerful. And I'm ashamed to say that here in the UK, it doesn't look like in any way, shape, or form that the actual church and religion really gets to the nuts and bolts of fear. You know, it puts this show on it, it puts this spectacle on it, it does this amazing show of power and authority through religion. But there are many people within pulpits, within the music worship area, many preachers and teachers, people in congregations that are coming to church week in, week out, tired and weary and really fearful. You know, I really believe that we need to find great preachers and teachers that will take us through the daily routine of life, but show us through the scriptures that fear is very common and it's a deep human emotion. And many biblical characters have experienced this even while they're walking in faith. And as I said a moment ago, the Bible doesn't hide this at all. The Bible doesn't hide their fears, it actually reveals them, it exposes, it brings them out. And the

Elijah's Powerful Miracles at Mt. Carmel

reason that it brings them out is to show how God meets us when we are weak and we are tired. So as you are reading this right now, as you are listening to this right now in this series, you know, no more fear. I would ask you if you have a Bible, if you're able to grab a Bible, a great text for you to turn to would be going to 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 3 and 4, and it's about Elijah. Now, a bit of a background story, a bit of a bit of a concrete in here, you know. We we might be pretty familiar with the the story of in Kings Elijah and Ahab and Jezebel and the fake prophets, you know, when you look at what happened at Mount Carmel, and also in the New Testament where Elijah is referenced of praying that great prayer, you know, in the book of James, you know, James says Elijah was a man just like us, but he prayed earnestly. You know, prayer is powerful. What happened when Elijah prayed? When Elijah prayed, he prayed that the heavens would stop and it would hold back the rain and it held back the rain for three, three and a half years, there or thereabouts, and then suddenly we find that we pick this character up again. We pick him up in 1 Kings chapter 19, where everything has been going off, everything's been kicking about, you know, there's been an amazing move of God. Fire fell. When you think about what happened at Mount Carmel, they built two altars, you know, put two calves, two cows on there. And when you look at that great story, you know, the fake prophets, they they they called for fire, fire didn't come down. They was dancing, they was chanting, they was being frantic, they sliced themselves, they were drawing blood. You know, it's very, very interesting when you look at that part of the story. But then Elijah steps back and and Elijah calls to God and fire falls, fire falls, and it consumes the stones, it consumes the altar, it can constones, it it confuse it, it consumes, sorry, it literally takes up, you know, everything in its path. They even put bat uh bundles and bundles of water, you know, the Bible says barrels of water right the way round and saturated the calf, saturated the the animal, saturated the wood, saturated the stones, dug a trench and it was filled with water, but the fire of God fell. You know, the fire of God fell and consumed everything and turned it all to dust. And we know the rest is history from there, but the reason I'm just laying that out is that Elijah sees such a powerful miracle, it would turn you wobbly when you think about what happened, you know. So here is a man that is in full faith. Here is a man that may be in the pulpit at the moment, here is a a mum or a dad or a brother or a sister or whoever we are, whatever and however we represent ourselves in life. We're doing something at one moment. We're full of faith, we're charged with the Holy Spirit, we're standing strong on the word, we're seeing miracles just like Elijah. We're seeing an amazing move of God in our lives, and we feel at peace and we feel rested, and then we go up to the Mount Carmel, we go up the top and we pray, and again we pray and we pray and we pray, and we see the hand of God moving in our lives, and we feel the joy of the Lord, we feel overwhelmed because God is moving and something is happening. So we see the fire of God falling, miracles are before our eyes, everything is happening. We feel that the Holy Spirit is with us, you know. We've had a good day in church, something brilliant and amazing has happened. You know, the Lord has answered a prayer, and then all of a sudden we're praying again, and just like Elijah, he prayed and he prayed and he prayed and he sent his servant off to look out across the the sea, and the the servant came back and he said, Elijah, nothing is changing. But Elijah said, Go back, go back, go back, keep watching, keep watching. The servant came back, he said, nothing, nothing. Elijah said, Go back, and Elijah, the scripture says that Elijah got to the top of the mountain, that he bowed down, he put his head between his legs and he prayed. And James says, Elijah was a man just like us, but he prayed earnestly. So, what we have is this very interesting character called Elijah. He is very powerful in prayer, he's very powerful because he has been called and God has called him. God has called you to salvation. That is really important. So we're just laying a bit of a foundation here. So Elijah is called, Elijah is you being used of God, he's seeing miracles, he's seeing the power of God move. All of a sudden it rains. They get up and he runs and he says, Run for your life. Now he gets down the bottom and he says to Ahab, get in the chariot and get going. So they are running at full steam because the rain was so powerful, it was raining so hard. The prayer that he prayed, the heavens gave way. So there we have another miracle from heaven. First, we have the fire, and then all of a sudden, we have this rain that is falling so heavy. Run for your life. Elijah is running so fast, he is running so fast, he's running in the glory, in the power, he's running in the rain that he called for. Have you had an experience like that where God has moved in your life and you feel that God is raining down on you and you are moving and things are happening and something is burning in your spirit? So, what I'm getting at, so Elijah was a man of faith. You are a human being of faith, you are a child of God of faith, but all of a sudden the tables turned on Elijah. Has that ever happened to you? Where you've gone from faith to fear, where you've gone from praying and you've had the miracle, and then all of a sudden in your life, out of nowhere, fear hits the skin that you're walking in. Let's pick the text up in 1 Kings chapter

When Fear Grips the Faithful zebel everything that Elijah had done, and how he killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, and this is what it said May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah was afraid. What was Elijah afraid of? He was afraid that his life was gonna end. He was frightened that he was gonna die because what he had done to the prophets, he slaughtered the human beings, the false prophets of Jezebel, the false prophets of Baal worshiping. Elijah took them out, and Jezebel sends this message to this great man that God used powerfully, and all of a sudden, a message that sounds like every one of us in the world of humanity. Suddenly, a message comes out of nowhere on the social media through email, through whatever it may be. Suddenly the message arrives in the inbox, suddenly the letter falls on the mat, suddenly in the HR office, suddenly through email, suddenly through somewhere, a message lands in our lap and it turns everything over. It brings everything into turmoil. Suddenly we go from faith. We're burning with faith. We're burning the desire of following Jesus. We're watching miracles happening. There are things happening

Jezebel's Message and Running in Fear

in our lives. We got worship on, we're praising God, we're lifting up the hand of God, we're lifting up the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is real, the word is strengthening us. We're full of faith, and then bang, out of nowhere. Fear through a message. We got to be careful of the messengers. Satan has got many messengers that are trying to send messages to your life. Satan has got things that he's trying to do to every one of us through social networks, through emails, through text, through life, through every area of life. Be careful who you listen to. Does that remind you of something? Adam and Eve. When they was in the garden, they listened to the lesser voice. God said, I give you everything. Everything. Everything of beauty is all yours. But just don't fortake. But then suddenly Lucifer comes along, the serpent comes along. And he drops that line that every human being doesn't want to hear. Are you sure? God

Jezebel's Message and Running in Fear

Are you sure what God said? Now it's gonna be quiet in the studio, as you're reading the book, as you're following the podcast, because that's a severe line. Are you sure? See, when we listen to the lesser voice, when we listen to the voice of the world, when we listen to the noise of the world, it makes us react differently. God said, I've give you clear instruction, this is what you have, and this is all yours. But don't touch. Lucifer comes along and he says, Are you sure? Now that is dropped into our lives a lot. Are you sure? Now that can be happening through our education, that can be happening through our life, that can be as we grow up, you know, through parenting, through teachers, through siblings, through every area. What who do you think you are? You know, hearing bad words, negative vibes, all that sort of stuff can knock our faith and can bring fear to us as we're growing up, and even now as in adulthood and everything that goes along with that. I want to tell you don't listen to the voice of the world. Jezebel was the voice of the world. Don't listen to that voice. The Jezebel spirit. Very dangerous, very manipulative, very controlling, very dark, very powerful. The Jezebel spirit. Very rarely do we hear preachers and teachers, and especially in the UK, the ministers mentioning that the spirit of Jezebel. We gotta be careful. We've got to be careful. Yes, we're full of faith. Yes, we're blessed and highly favored. Yes, the hand of God is with us. Yes, the power of the Holy Spirit is leading you. Yes, you might be a preacher, a teacher, a theologian. Yes, you're born again, spirit-filled, blessed and highly favored. God is with you. John 3 3. You are born again. Your name is stamped in the Lamb's Book of Life, but suddenly out of nowhere, there is a message landing on your lap through your inbox. The postman, the postperson has dropped a letter on the doormat. You open the door and suddenly find that you are confronted with what is this? You open up the envelope and your heart starts to beat. You open up your inbox, you start reading the email, you're on your social networks, you start seeing things, and then all of a sudden, you were full of I am full of faith. We're dancing in faith. We're having an amazing journey with the Holy Spirit, the Word, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and then all of a sudden we get a message. We get a message that turns us. We get a message that drives fear. Isn't it interesting that the message that he got made him run for his life? In 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 3, Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life. Brother and sister, whoever you are across the world, I want to tell you at this moment in time, as you are reading this literature, you're reading this book in chapter 9, I want to tell you right now, fear has to go at the name of Jesus. Fear has to break at the name of Jesus. But what do we do all the way through, all the way through this series that we are doing? You know, it's about fear and about being real. And the Bible doesn't escape that. The Bible doesn't tell us that we're not going to be fearful. The Bible explains what is going to happen in our lives. And we got to be careful of those Jezebels out there that threaten life, that threaten to take stuff away. And it made him run to the wilderness. Elijah was exhausted. Are you exhausted? Are you running for your life? Are you running because of a message? Because of something in the world has affected you. It might be really private. It might be across the table of life. Are you afraid? Are you running in the wilderness? And you're exhausted. And you're deeply discouraged. And he asks God, I want to die. It's really severe. It's overwhelming when you think about this. Are you out there and you're like this? And fear has got you so much and gone in your mind, and your brain has gone, it'd be better if I wasn't here. Don't listen to the lies. Don't listen to those thoughts. Elijah's story teaches us that even the most faithful can be afraid, overwhelmed and alone. Yet God didn't rebuke Elijah. God is not rebuking me for being scared. God is not rebuking me for being afraid. Yet God did not rebuke Elijah. He ministered to him and he gave him rest and nourishment and a gentle whisper. God will not abandon you. God does not abandon me just because we are fearful and we are scared and we are worried and we are doubtful. God sent an angel to strengthen Elijah when he he prayed. We could look at that prayer, quite interesting. It was a suicidal moment in his life. I want to die. I don't want to be on this earth. Will you take my life? I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I'm weary. If you're reading this through a devotional read at this moment, if you're listening to this through RB Christian radio, if you are reading this just through the book that we're pushing out at this moment in time, no more fear, I want to tell you right now, as you read this, as you listen to this, don't allow the message of the world to detract you from what God has for you. Don't allow the Jezebel spirit, the manipulative spirit, the satanic

God Never Abandons Us in Fear

way, the heaviness of life. Don't allow that to take you off track from what God has for you. You are blessed and highly favored. You are wonderfully and fearfully made. And God is with you, and the power of the Holy Spirit is living in you. The Bible says perfect love drives out all fear. Come on, God. Come on, God, reveal yourself because I'm fearful tonight. I'm fearful, Lord. I'm on my way to work and I'm scared. I'm on my way to school and I'm tired and I'm scared. I'm on my way to an interview, I'm scared. I'm on my way to court and I'm scared. I'm on my way to the hospital to get some results. And Lord, I'm really scared. I'm fearful. I'm frightened of a message that I don't want to hear. Lord, I'm on my way home. I've got to deliver some message to some friends and some families, Lord, and I'm scared. Lord, I've got no money and I'm scared. Don't allow that Jezebel vibe, that that narcissistic trait, that powerful spirit of Jezebel to override your faith. Hold on to the word of God and get in the scripture. You know, we're blessed and highly favored. We are wonderfully and fearfully made. And God did not leave Elijah. God will not leave you. God will not leave you hanging. God will not leave you alone. God will strengthen you. God will lead you. But let me tell you this: God will take you through the valley. He will take you through the refiner's fire. And that journey alone will stir that emotion of fear. It's a human emotion that every one of us we run to the wilderness, we run to the hills for cover, and Elijah ran to the wilderness. He was exhausted, he was afraid, and he was deeply discouraged. And he said, God, I want to die. God, I want it to go. You know, fear is very powerful, but faith is more powerful. Elijah is a really powerful example of a prophet who experienced deep fear. Even after the witnessing of miracles, God moving in his life, you know, fire came down at the prairie, prayed, rain came down. His story is incredible. It's an incredible story of a human being really in the depths of faith. But then all of a sudden, when the tables turn on him, he doesn't continue to live by faith. He lives in complete fear. Maybe you're in a prayer team, maybe you're a worshiper, maybe you're in the congregation, maybe you're a preacher or a teacher or a theologian, and you're just capturing this podcast, or you're just reading through this book, sitting down, having a cup of coffee. God is speaking to you, and God is saying, Don't be afraid. Do not be afraid. Wherever you are across the world, may God strengthen you and carry you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. All things are possible to those who believe. Do not allow fear to control. Do not allow the fear of life to grab hold of you. Do not allow the circumstances of life. Be careful of the messengers. Be careful of the messages that come through social media, that come through the post, that come through email, that come through human beings. Don't allow Jezebel to manipulate you because what will happen? It will turn into a fearful moment. May God bless you wherever you are on the other side of the earth. God is with you. Thank you for reading this. Thank you for listening to this podcast. No more fear in this series. Chapter 9, wherever you are, may God strengthen you. God is with you. God bless. We will see you soon. Take care. Every blessing in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thank you for listening to us today on Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast. We hope you found inspiration and guidance in today's audio. Remember, the journey of faith is a continuous one, and your

Closing Thoughts and Encouragement SPEAKER_00 30:13

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