Under a Tree – 2

                                                                     Under a Tree – 2

Subject – Finding the Courage to Move from Where You Are

By Rick Welborne

1 Kings 19:1-8 (NLT2)
¹  When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal.
²  So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”
³  Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.
⁴  Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
⁵  Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!”
⁶  He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.
⁷  Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”
⁸  So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 

--Last week we started this series…Under a Tree…and it seemed to connect with many of you as well as with myself. We all can relate to Elijah at some point. 

-- Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life.”

--We talked about how ninety percent of our lives can be going so well but that ten percent that we cannot control is chewing us up. Your percentage might be different. 80-20, 70-30, or whatever it is.

--Have we preached a gospel that has misled people into believing that if they can only have enough faith they can get everything to a place of utopia in their lives? You can have everything you say. 

--Many have not disappeared yet…how do I know that? I know that because our churches are filled with people (like me) who are stuck in this 90/10 syndrome.  

--Just the fact that I am including myself in this struggle make some nervous because we have learned to fake a place of walking with God pretending the fight does not exist. It exists. 

--Let me throw in here right now that I am walking this out and trying biblically and spiritually to figure this out. Last week I mentioned Joseph and my struggle with his life and pain.

--Joseph was thrown in a pit by his brothers (10%), sold into slavery (10%), and ended up in Potiphar’s house in charge of everything but his wife. He experienced God’s wonderful blessings (90%).

Genesis 39:3-5 (NKJV)
³  And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.
⁴  So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.
⁵  So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

--Obviously God’s blessings were on Joseph and everything was good. Really? Wasn’t he betrayed by his brothers and separated from his father (10%). Potiphar’s wife is on her way (10%). Prison was waiting.

--Please tell us what are you saying, Pastor Rick. I am telling you that you are blessed but I am also telling you that you are only one attack away from a major test or temptation in your life. 

--It may be a doctor saying you have a brain tumor, Leukemia, lung cancer. It may be a spouse who says I am done. It may be a son or daughter who is addicted to drugs. You fill in the blanks. Life changes quickly. 

--Somewhere along the way I believe we have bought into a myth in the church that we have to be at 100% all the time and if we are not, something is wrong with our faith. Just confess the bad away!

Bart Star (Green Bay Packers) – I wasn’t mentally tough before I met Coach Lombardi. I hadn’t reached the point where I refused second best. To win, you have to have a certain amount of mental toughness. Coach Lombardi gave me that. He taught me you must have a flaming desire to win. It’s got to dominate all your waking hours. It can’t ever wane. It’s got to glow in you all the time. 

--It’s got to glow in you all the time. It can’t ever wane. Really? I am not sure that is even impossible whether it is with football, with our lives, or in our walk with Christ. 

--We all end up under a broom tree or we end up going fishing. Or, at least, we sit in service after service wishing we were fishing or wishing God would just take us home with Him.

--So many factors can knock the glow off of you. It could be other people (team-mates, spouses, church family) or it could be the simple progression of life. I can’t physically do what I used to do.

--Years ago I heard of a family who were going to leave our church. Their reason…Pastor Rick doesn’t have the same passion that he did before…the fire is gone. I called and set up a time to meet. 

--I confronted the man about what was said and he confirmed that it was true. I decided to do something bold and courageous…I decided to be as transparent with him as I could. 

--I told him that this has been one of the toughest seasons of my life. I told him of people saying about me what I wouldn’t say about an enemy. I told him of people leaving and saying hurtful things.

--I told him of health issues, family issues, prodigal issues, people issues that were heart wrenching, and I told him that this is not a time of revival but a time of survival. I am treading water, trying not to go under.

--I told him that in the middle of this, God has given me great and precious promises…He has promised me if I can hang in here that I will see growth spiritually, physically, and spiritually like never before.

--He had bought into the myth that Bart Star was talking about…It’s got to glow in you all the time. The truth is, I was not glowing and it is impossible for me to glow all the time. Impossible for you too.

--As I shared with this man he began to weep and he apologized. He said not only will I not leave the church but I will be here to hold up your arms and to see the miracles God promised you. He is still here.

--Under a Tree is a message to let us know that if we are so low that we have to reach up to rub an earthworm’s belly and going through the valley of the shadow of death…We can’t stay under the tree.

1. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.

 Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) ¹³  I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.

--This has probably been one of the most abused verses in the Bible. When we process the Word of God through a gospel of prosperity…the ‘all things’ in this verse becomes whatever we want.

--If you read Paul in context, he was talking about an enduring faith that would carry him through whatever life would throw at him. Paul endured so much opposition and pain.

--We think…I can build my big new home, I can buy my expensive new car, I can have the nice things in this life and I can do it through Christ Who strengthens me. This would be Paul’s 10% or more I am sure:

2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV)
²³  Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
²⁴  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
²⁵  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
²⁶  I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
²⁷  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
²⁸  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

--Paul was saying, yes life has been hard and yes it doesn’t seem fair sometimes but I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. I can do all these things and still love Jesus.

--I heard a faith preacher or at least one who was on the list of great prosperity preachers say this…If Paul would have had faith like I do, he (Paul) wouldn’t have had to go through all the mess he did. 

--Let me say it differently…It was Paul’s faith that made him declare…I can do all things (go thru all the mess) through Christ Who gives me strength. Our faith is enduring faith sometimes.

2. I have learned to be content.

Philippians 4:11-12 (NKJV)
¹¹  Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
¹²  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

--It was obvious Paul was not talking about Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, or Pennsylvania…he was talking about a different state. Whatever situation he was in or whatever was happening to him at the time.

--We believe we can have it all and we believe we should have it all now. Anything less and we are frustrated. If anyone on the planet should be thankful, it is us. We are not content.

--As believers we think that if I am truly right with God and truly asking for all these things. To be fulfilled we have to be abounding in everything, we have no need. 

--Paul says words like abased, hungry, and suffering need, yet content. We think we can have it all here but that is not what the Scriptures teach us. It’s a myth. 

Romans 8:18 (KJV) ¹⁸  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

3. I cant’s stay under the tree anymore.

--I can’t stay in a place (emotionally and spiritually) where I expect life to always be wonderfully perfect. I can’t stay in a place where my spouse, my church, my friends, the government have to meet all my needs. 

--I can’t stay here anymore when there is a God to be worshipped who is worthy of all my love and all of my devotion whether life is good or bad, happy or sad, He is still worthy. 

--I can’t stay here anymore in a place of hiding from Jezebel, a place of guilt from denying Christ, a place of being sold into bondage and rejected by family…I can’t stay under this tree anymore. 

--There is an answer to your lack, to your pain, to your sickness, to your frustration, to your loneliness, to your hunger, to your need…to your 10% and His Name is Jesus…run to Him!

Acts 4:12 (NKJV) ¹²  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."