The Journey Is Too Great for Thee
Category: Faith & Trusting God
Key Passage: 1 Kings 19
Speaker: Anthony Aaron
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles to 1st Kings chapter 19. First Kings chapter 19.
Me and Brother John are like two long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs this morning. But I appreciate you, again, getting patience, and I appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Got a quick joke I’d like to tell about fishing, all right, about fishing. Anybody fish? Anybody fish without a license? Don’t raise your hand. We’ve got cameras. But there was a man in Ontario recently.
And he was out of lake, and he had two full buckets of fish. And this is a lake that’s well known for its fishing. And he had two full buckets of fish, and he was walking back to his car. And he stopped him and said, hey, buddy, that’s a lot of fish there. Do you have a license to fish? And the man said, well, no, these are my pet fish. And the warden said, pet fish. No, there’s no way. That’s a bunch of bologna. There’s no way those are your pet fish.
He said, yes, every day I come out to the lake, and I let the fish swim around a little bit, and then I call them, and then they come back to my buckets, and then I take them home, just to get a little bit of exercise in. And the game warden said, no way, that’s not possible. Let me show you real quick. And so the man, the lake, the game warden’s just standing there, he’s looking at it. He dumps both of those buckets of fish.
He just stands there at the water for a little bit. And the game warden said, where are you going to go now? And the guy said, call who back? And the game warden said, the fish. What fish? So anyway, so the game warden, that’s what you need to do. That’s some advice here. No, I’m just kidding. Oh, man.
But anyway, so First Kings chapter 19. We’re going to look down here at a couple of verses. We’re going to look at verse number one and read through verse number seven. You’ve noticed I shaved, all right, I shaved. I look like I’m 17 up here, but I appreciate nobody giving me a candy bar or anything like that. I just shaved the beard part and I was just going to leave the mustache. Today is bustash Sunday, all right? So we’re on the buses. We’re having mustaches.
I went out with Brother Chip, and we had a good time yesterday, and then preacher called me and told me, he said, hey, I’m going to need you to preach tomorrow morning. And I thought, man, I really need to wear this mustache for the kids. But if I wore this mustache while preaching, they would not pay attention to a word that I said. They would just watch the little fuzzy caterpillar move around as I taught. So I took that off. I shaved that off, and then…
I went this morning, beating Brother Josh met up early this morning. We were going to go visit the bus route, and I had to make him for the kids. Well, Brother Josh didn’t know that it was Mustache Sunday today, and he looks at me, and he just kind of, okay, you know what? That’s Brother Anthony, I guess. And we’re driving down the road, and I said, yeah, I’m looking forward to Mustash Sunday today. He said, oh, that’s why you’ve got a mustache on. I just thought you wore that all the time.
Then anyway, so First Kings chapter 19, let’s go ahead and get into this. We’ll read, if you want to stand with me, and we’ll read the first seven verses, really focusing in on that last phrase of the last verse. Don’t look there yet. We’ll get there. You ready? First King’s chapter 19, verse number one, the Bible says, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all the prophets, playing all the prophets with the sword.
Unto Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me. So if I make not thy life as a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and came to Bersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came in Saturday, a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die.
And said, it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father’s. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold then an angel touched him and said it to him, arise and eat. Praise the Lord for that. Arise and eat. And he loosed and beheld. There was a cake, bacon on cold, and he did eat and drink and laid him down again.
The second time and touched him and said rise and eat notice this phrase you ready this focus on let’s read this last phrase out together to the end of the verse you ready begin
It’s too great for thee.
And let’s pray. Lord, I thank you so much. The Lord, you give strength. I thank you, Lord, for just the promises that we have in the Bible. I ask you please just help us, Lord, as we, Lord, dig into the scriptures. Help us to focus and pay attention. Lord, just please keep the distractions away that your word would be expelled today, Lord, and you’d be lifted up, and you’d be glorified in what’s done today. Lord, we love you. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you so much. You may sit down.
But that last phrase, as I was reading my Bible, this last phrase really stuck out to me. And I love phrases in the Bible. Phrases are huge for me. Word studies in the Bible, I’ll eat those up. I love those things. But this last phrase, well, there, but verse number seven, because the journey is too great for thee. That’s the title of my message today. The journey is great for thee. The journey is too great for thee.
I don’t know about you, but anybody ever been to the Grand Canyon? Has anybody ever been to the Grand Canyon? On the Grand Canyon, that is probably the most deceitful place in the whole world. Because when you get to the canyon, you’re on top. When you get to the canyon, you’re on top of the canyon. And then it gives you this little area where you’re able to go down the canyon. Oh, this is easy. And it’s got these huge signs everywhere, but…
They should have had somebody stand there and tell me, because I didn’t want to read the signs. But I went to the Grand Canyon with my family when I was a teenager. And we were at the Grand Canyon, and there’s that section where you were able to walk down the canyon. And I think it’s six miles down to the bottom of the canyon, six or ten miles, something like that. But it’s just back and forth zigzag as you walk down to the bottom of the canyon. Now, they tell you on the signs. Again, we didn’t. But they tell you on the signs and say, look, it’s harder to go up than it is to go down. So make sure that you don’t go down too far. And they remind you that it’s $100 to get a helicopter to come and pick you up, or maybe $500, something like that. It’s going to be $500 if you get down to the bottom. A helicopter is going to charge you $500 to get to the top.
But here we are, it’s my family, you know, my mom and my dad and us three brothers. And we were like, man, we got this. This is nothing. And we start going down the canyon, and we’re walking. Here, you’re walking back and forth. And again, there’s just, all you’re looking at is right of the canyon. You could have seen so much more if you drove around. But anyway, we do it. And so we’re walking down the canyon, and we get about a mile in. And all right, okay, my mom’s feeling it, all right? You know, we’re having to carry her now. No, I’m just kidding. Walking down the canyon.
And we’re kind of feeling it’s been a mile. All right, mile is a good little bit to walk. And then we keep walking down, and we’re about two miles in. And then in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, oh, man, it’s getting dark. And it is. It was getting dark. The sun was setting a little bit. And we’re two miles into the canyon at this point. And so this is nothing. Let’s just go one more mile. That’s all we’re going to do, just one more mile. Let’s go down. Maybe we can see some lizard or something.
And if you’ve ever been out there, these squirrels that’ll just come up to you and take your keys, whatever you have. But they’ll take the things from you some food. So we were going down, we’re about three miles down into the canyon, and then we like, all right, it’s getting dark, let’s go ahead and head back up. Well, it’s so easy, like I said, to walk down the canyon. But once you’re down there, you have to remember every step I take is not just a flat step. It’s not a downstep. I’m going up.
And there’s people, as we were walking down, you see them on the side. You know, they’re all passed out. They’re fanning moms. They’re throwing water, whatever water they had. They’re, you know, they’re spitting on people trying to get water to them. And we’re like, oh, okay, you know, they’re a bunch of cissies. Come on, we got this. We’re okay. We’re fit. We’re teenagers. We can run down there and run back.
And so we get down there, and then we turn around, we start walking back up. Let me tell you something. That is a challenge to walk up just by yourself. But when your mom is hanging on to your back pockets, dragging you, trying to get her to get up to the top, it adds a lot of extra, let’s just say, a lot of extra challenges, all right? But so that’s happening. We started to make up the trip, and my mom would stop every little mile mark of my mom and dad, and they were done, all right? You know, if we knew that we could carry them, we probably would have carried them. And they probably would have tried it, too.
But we tried to make that trip up, the three miles up, and it took forever. It was dark by the time there. It was not a fun trip at the end of the day. And I said, Mom, why don’t we just stay in the car next time? So that’s what we’re going to do. But you know what? The journey that we have before us is too great. There is going to be a journey that God is placed in front of you that is too great for you. It’s too hard for you to do it by yourself. It’s too hard for you.
Let me show you something here. Let’s look at 18 of 1st Kings. We’re talking about Elijah here. In 2018, this is the introduction to Elijah, but we see this is when he called together. And he says, hey, I want to challenge the prophets of bail. We’re going to stand on top of Mount Carmel, and we’re going to have the two offerings, and we know the story. I think Brother Aaron just preached you here a little bit ago. This is what happened. The fire was called down.
It consumed water, it consumed the burnt sacrifice, took everything, wiped it all out. Now, that had just happened. And then after that, Elijah takes the prophets of bail. There’s about 450 of them, and he just slays them all. It kills them all, the false prophets of bail. But then after that, he starts to pray. He says, hey, Ahab, go ahead and go home, go ahead and eat and drink, because it’s about to rain. And at this point, it had not rained for three and a half years.
Elijah prayed that the rain would stop. And God answered his prayer. So it had been three and a half years, and Elijah started to pray. And he’s telling his servant, he said, hey, go run up there and see if there’s any clouds yet. And there was no clouds. And he did that seven different times. And finally, there was a cloud about the size of a man’s hand. And then after that, then rain just started to pour down.
So we see that Elijah up to this point, he had called down fire from heaven. He had prayed back on the land. And then if you look there at the end of chapter 18 in verse number 45. This is kind of the rain as well, but I want us to know something in verse number 46. But verse number 45, and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and when, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jesrael.
But here’s an interesting thing. And the hand of the word was on Elijah. Very important. God’s hand was doing things. This point, God had worked some miracles through Elijah. But here’s something here. He went and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jesus. He ran before the chariots. If he read through the story there, he just gotten done eating. So the chariot was probably a little slow from that. But he did outrun Ahab’s chariot. And he had just seen the mighty hand of God working through his life.
And how many times we could get to that point where we can look back on some things that God has worked and brought us through. And we think, man, there’s no way, but God brought me through them. And we’re able to look back at that time. But in chapter 19, it’s a little bit of a different Elijah. It’s the same person, of course. But Elijah’s mentality has changed. We read there in verse number one, how Jezebel said, I’m going to kill you, Elijah, for killing my false prophets.
And one way, late woman, all right, she was a female. But one lady, she got the prophet, God’s hero, to run from her. And he ran, he not only ran, he ran, and left his servant. He ran just another day just before that he was covered. He ran into the wilderness. But we are left with a Bible hero here in China that is threatened with losing his life. After all that God did through Elijah, we find that Elijah is still human.
If I can pause and just say this, I am thankful for characters in the Bible. This is a true story. These are not just people that God just hand-selected, and these were just perfect people, super Christians, this preacher talked about last week. These were people just like you and I. These were people that struggled with temptations. These are people that struggled with discouragement. And that’s what we see here with Elijah in chapter number 19, is he had discouragement. He fled from a woman, and he wanted to end his life.
God had just worked so many miracles through him. He saw fire come down from heaven. Just before this, a couple of times, he called down fire and 50 men were killed. He called down fire again, 50 other men were killed. And then he had the, on top of Mount Carmel, saw the fire of God come down, and then he slew all those prophets. And the Bible says that the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah. He was at the top of his spiritual life, if you will. He was at a mountain.
But you know what happened after that? Discouragement came, persecution came, and it brought Elijah down. But Elijah was not done. Elijah was not finished. If we were to stop Elijah’s story here, we would miss out on a lot of things that the Lord still had for Elijah to do. But Elijah, he had much bigger challenges that were ahead. He had bigger fights, bigger battles. But Elijah could have just settled down and said, look, Lord, I’m done with this thing.
I’m done with you, you know, I’m done with this. Yes, praise the Lord, I’m saved, but I’m just done. Just don’t call them anymore. Just I want to end my life. I’m done with it. And that’s what Elijah was at. That’s where he’s at. And then we see God working through.
But let me ask you this. How many have ever heard the expression? God won’t put you more than you can bear. How many has ever heard that before? Let me tell you something. I’m going to say this as a statement. But if that is your life, let me tell you, you are missing out on a lot of the Christian life. If your motto is God’s not going to put more on me than I can bear, you are missing out on a lot of what God has for you. Because if God’s not going to put anything more on me than I can bear, me myself, that’s pretty shallow. A lot of us don’t have a lot of strength. A lot of us, maybe a new Christian, you don’t have a lot of foundation. And if God’s not going to put more on me than just I can bear, that’s not very much.
I don’t know about you, but Brother Anthony can’t handle a lot of things. Brother Anthony would be okay sitting in Texas in an easy chair with a glass of sweet tea and a biscuit and gravy. That’s what I’d be okay with. But you know what? But if I were to just live my life thinking that only what I can bear is what God’s going to give me, I’m missing out on what God really wants for me. I’m missing out what God really wants me.
We’re going to see an important turning point for the prophet Elijah that I think we can apply to our own lives. How many, I asked somebody this morning, how many has ever ran out of gas with a car, maybe a car, van? All right, good, I’m not alone. Praise the Lord. When we were teenagers, we had a Pontiac Montana, all right? They are really known for being in a mechanic shop and doing a lot of work on them. That’s what they’re known for. So praise the Lord for that. Our gas gauge did not work on the Pontiac Montana.
And so, you know, you kind of, you kind of guess, all right, you know, 200 miles, 250. And so we push that Montana a little bit too far. How many, if your tank, quarter of a tank, that’s too low for you, you need to go ahead and get gas. Is there anybody like that? All right, good. I hope my wife is raising her hand. But how many, you like, you like that E? That E for you stands for excellent. It stands for…
It stands for the expression of the Lord. You’re able just to see the Lord work when it gets to that E point, all right? There’s a reason they have a bar there at the bottom of the E because that needle just rests here really good. We’ve got cut marks in it. But there’s the E that’s there. That’s me. I’ll wait to the very last minute to get gas. I don’t like, it’s getting to a gas station, pulling out the, you know, my card, especially spending money, but pulling out the card, paying for gas. I don’t like doing that stuff.
And so I’ll wait till the very last minute. But some people, like Ms. Cotor, she likes that quarter tank. If it’s at a quarter tank, it’s too late. You should have already got gas, you know, 50 miles ago. But I’m sorry, back to the Montana. Here we go. So we were in Pontiac, Montana. We were driving around. We were going to go to church one Wednesday night or something like that. And we had some, we had some friends over. There was a couple other teenagers. And so it was my mom and about five teenage boys in the car. And we were driving down to that youth activity or church, I can’t really remember.
And then you know the feeling if you’ve ran out of gas. All right, that was weird. Do we hit something? There’s that skip where the gas. You still have about 10 miles after that. No, I’m just kidding. But we felt that. And my mom said, oh, no, we’re out of gas. And we were a long way from a gas station. And so we pull over and, you know, again, on fumes. There’s no gas in the tank, all right? We pull over and one of the guys is a little older and he said what we can do. We’re going to do this. Let’s all move together like this.
And so here we are. There’s six of us. My mom’s driving, and all six of us are back and forth. We’re trying to get that last couple miles out, and then we get about halfway to a gas station. We’re good three, four, five miles away from a gas station. We’re just not going to be able to make it with the van, all right? You can only get so far after the head bob thing. But we were stuck in a situation that we needed some help.
By ourselves, just that van, that gasoline, what was in that van, could not make it to that gas station. That van, the fuel that we had, could not make it to our destination. But you know what? We called up my dad. Praise the Lord, we had cell phones. It was to pop open, you know, pull out the antenna about 20 feet. And then you can get a phone call. But praise the Lord, my dad had it. And he drove and he dropped us off some gas and we were able to make it to the gas station get some more.
But you know what? I tell that story to tell you this. Elijah was at a stopping point. Elijah was at a point in his life where he was done. He himself was done. He did not want to go anything. Himself did not want to continue in what the Lord wanted him to do. But God was not done with him. Look at that verse number six again.
The Bible says, and he looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water at his head. Let me tell you something. God has what you need. God has something you need. But there is a journey that’s in front of you that is too great for you to do. There is a journey that God has put you on. You’re not going to be able to handle it. You’re going to crumble. You’re going to get crushed if you try to do God’s will on your own.
If you try to do God’s will in your own strength, you know, again, if your motto is, you know, God’s not going to put anything more on me than I can bear, you’re living a shallow Christian life because I can only bear so much. Let’s read some things here. Go ahead and turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10, I just want to give you four different journeys that are before us are too great for us. They’re just too much for us to do by ourselves.
Look at John chapter 10 and verse number 10. John chapter 10, the Bible says this, the thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. Look what Jesus says. Let’s read this, that last part of the verse out today. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. You know what? The abundant life, the abundant Christian life is too great of a journey for you.
God has something that He wants you to do. God has a plan for you. God has more potential for you than you could imagine. But you know what? I do that on my own. If I try to live in my own strength, I’m not going to be able to do everything that wants me to do. Because it’s me. It’s all about me. Read that verse again. I am come that they might have life. They might have it more abundantly. Jesus came on this earth to bring us abundant life. He has that abundant life for us.
You know, the abundant life, you know, in some Christians, we fall into this. The abundant life that God gives us is not mediocre. It’s not boring or subpar. This life that God gives, he wants to give us is not shaky. It’s not discouraged. The life wants to give us this abundant life. It is justified. It is an amplified life that God wants to give to you.
God wants you to succeed in your life. God wants you to succeed as a Christian, but you can’t do that alone. You can’t break for you. That’s why Jesus said, I am come, that they might have life. It doesn’t say you can try this on your own and you can get abundant life by yourself. No, I had to come in that life. Christians, we should be the happiest people in all the earth.
We should. There is no problem that the world can throw at us that we should be discouraged about, that we should be worried about. We are saved from hell. We are heaven-given. We have been forgiven from sin and entrusted with the gospel. Why should we be so depressed? Why is the average Christian’s face look like this? Why is that? We have heaven that we can look forward to. Man, there are some excited people out in the world in heaven. We have the truth, the Bible, that we can hold in our hands. Why are we so disappointed? Why are we so discouraged?
Why should I let the devil steal, kill, and destroy my life? That’s what the Bible says. The Bible says, look, the devil, he has come, the enemy has come, that he might steal, kill and destroy. And when my life has been stolen, the joy of my life has been stolen, my life has been destroyed, it’s not because of God, and it’s not because God wanted it that way. It’s because I allowed that to happen. Because God says this is what the world offers, is destruction, is killing, but this is what I offer. I offer life and life, but life more abundantly. That’s what God wants to say.
Let me tell you something. On your own, you’re never going to be able to do it. On your own, you’ll never be able to fulfill abundant Christian life. You need God’s strength. On his, the rest of what God had for him. He was at a stopping. He ran out of gas, if you will, and he needed something. He needed Jesus to help him get through to finish what God had for him, to finish God’s plan for his life.
Look at chapter 18 of 1st King’s chapter number 18 and verse number 38. Let’s look at these just a couple of verses. I want us to notice where Elijah’s eyes were. Where were Elijah’s eyes during these portions? Chapter 18. The Bible says this, then the fire of the Lord fell. It fell. It came from heaven and fell down. Where do you think Elijah’s eyes were? Elijah’s eyes were looking at the sacrifice, like, oh, it’s going to happen. No, he was praying and looking up to heaven. He was calling on God to send that fire from heaven. His eyes were looking upward. His eyes were looking upward.
Look at verse number 45. The Bible says, and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Again, where was Elijah’s eyes? They were looking up to God. He was just a couple of verses. He was saying to his servant, look up, see what’s in the sky. Where was Elijah’s eyes? They were looking up.
But look at verse number three of chapter 19. Verse number two, Jezebel sent a messenger and Elijah saying, so let the God. More also, if I make not thy life as a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, when he saw the messenger, when he saw the message, his eyes were changed. His eyes were changing. What did he do? When he saw that, he rose and went for his life. His eyes were not looking up to God. His eyes were looking at his circumstances.
His eyes were looking at his circumstances. What have we filled our lives with that are distracting us from God’s abundant life? What is distracting us from complete fulfillment of God’s job for us? Is it persecution? Or is it worry that’s getting you distracted? And you’re like, man, I want to live for God. I want to do something for God. My coworkers are going to make fun of me. I know if I do, I’m going to hear it around Christmas time with my family.
And you know what, that discouragement, that persecution that comes in our life, you know what it’s going to do is it’s going to keep us from fulfilling what God wants us to do. Look at verse number four, the end of verse number four. The Bible says, for I am not better. He wants me to take his life away. He said, for I am not better than the guilt that kept Elijah from going forward. There was a guilt that put him in a stopping point. You know what the devil is really good at?
Of the brethren. In the morning, he has got a call list, and he’s got on that list, he’s got everything that you’ve done. And you know what he’s going to do? He’s so good at this. Man, what are you doing preparing your Sunday school lesson? Man, you know what you did this last week? Man, what are you doing? What are you doing about Jesus Christ? Man, I know what you do. I know what you’ve done before. And what does the devil do? He brings that guilt upon us. And we see here Elijah was stopped short because of guilt.
It doesn’t matter what’s in your past. The Bible says he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. God wants us to keep pushing forward. He wants to give us abundant life. What does God offer? Look at verse number five. And as he lay, he slept under a juniper tree. He slept under a juniper tree. Behold, the angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. You know what? God offers us as Christians. It delivers us rest and refreshment. When we’re being by the way,
And we go through this whole world just annihilated and chewed up and spit back out. And when we get to the end of our day, we are just war out. We are done. And we have to wake up in the morning and seek that refreshment from God if we want to live an abundant life for him. We have to seek that rest and refreshment. We do not have an abundant life because we cannot get it on our own. You have to prioritize time to seek the Lord. And he will give you that strength to achieve abundant life. That’s what God wants to give you. That’s what he said he wants to give. It’s abundant life, life and life more abundantly. But we have to seek him. We have to seek that refresh and refreshment.
Listen to this. You ready? It is God’s job to supply the strength. It is our job to trust him. It’s God’s job to supply the strength. I don’t wake up in the morning and go, man, am I good enough? Am I solid enough in my faith that I can handle today? No, I wake up in the morning, I trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. I get to trust God. I don’t have to worry about my past. I don’t have to worry about my faults and my failures. I can trust God. I can trust God for that abundant life. First thing, God we cannot get up.
Journey second thing turn to numbers chapter 13 numbers chapter 13 you’re doing and i appreciate that i don’t have to do any cartwheels just yet so that
Chapter 13 and verse number 25 through 31. We’ll read these real quickly here. You can listen along. But the Bible says this. Children of Israel. And they returned from searching of the land. This is the 12 spies after 40 days. And when they went and came to Moses to all the congregation of the children of Israel until the Quran.
All the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, We came into the land, whither thou sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land. And the cities are walled and very great. And moreover, we saw the children of Anik there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jephystites and the emirites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan.
But listen to this, you ready? Look at what Caleb did, verse number 30. And Caleb steeled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it. For we are well able to overcome it. But listen to this, verse number 31. Men that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people, for they are strong against God. No, what does it say? They are stronger than we. What is it? What was their focus?
The giants that are in the land. Look at these people, man, it’s great and all. But look at the challenges that we’re going to face. And what it was, God promised this to us. Caleb was looking back at God’s promises. And the 10 spies, they said, look, we’re not going to be able to do it in our own strength. They’re just too strong. They’re just too strong. They’re stronger than we be. They’re stronger than we.
Listen, God has for everyone in here today. You may be 12 years old. But God still has a will for you. If you’re still breathing, has something that he wants you to do. Never forget that. What is the question that young people ask today? What’s my purpose in life? What am I supposed to do? Well, God’s already given you a will to do. God wants you to follow his will that He wants to follow the Bible. But God has a will for everyone. Are you willing to follow that will?
The second thing is, is doing the job to do. It’s too great. On my own strength, in my own strength, for me, Brother Anthony, I will not be able to accomplish what God wants me to accomplish. I will not be able to do the job that God wants me to do in my own strength. It’s too great for me. It’s too big for me. It’s too much. It’s too many challenges. I’ll crumble because it’s too great for me.
The people, listen to this. These, the children of Israel, they were on the brink of the promised land. The reason they call it the promise land, if you don’t know, is because it was promised to them. And if you know anything, God keeps his promises. And here they are in the brink of promise land. And God says this. He says, you know, hey, I want you to go ahead and go inside. And they sent out the spies. The spies came. It’s just not going to work. So what do we do now? I don’t know.
They didn’t have a backup plan. They just said, look, it’s just not going to work. We’re not going to be able to go into the promised land. The promised land. But what happened is the people that decided to live, to live in their own strength. You know what happened to them? They died in the wilderness. They died in the wilderness. Every one of those men, 20 and above, that said, hey, we’re not going to go into the promised land that God promised to us. You know where they died? They died in the wilderness. They died in full regret.
Can you imagine their lives when God said, hey, you know, don’t try to go now because you’re in your own strength. I’m not going to help you this time. You go ahead and go. They’ll die. But what happened is they were sent out in the wilderness for 40 years and they died in the wilderness with nothing but regret. Let me tell you something. God has a job for you. Are you going to live the rest of your life in regret because you didn’t do it? Are you going to live the rest of your life and just defeat because you didn’t do what God called you to do? God has a job for you to do, and it’s too great for you. It’s too big for you. You need to trust in God.
What does God offer for us? Let’s see. Kings after 19 and verse number 15. It gives us the answer there. But anyway, it’s redemption. God offers us redemption. Happened Elijah said hey I don’t want can’t do this anymore God just go ahead and take my life and what does God do he says look let me give you some refreshment rest but I still have a job for you to do he said I want you to go out I want you to go ahead and anoint hazy go ahead and go ahead and they are going to be the next person the next king’s in line to take out the family of Abraham God still had a job for Elijah to do God offers us redemption you know what I don’t have to be the child of his the children of Israel
And once I make a bad decision, then I’m stuck in the wilderness for 40 years. God offers you redemption. God says, hey, look, you messed up yesterday, but I still have a plan for you. I still have a job that I want you to do. Go to God for that redemption. Look, Lord, I can’t do this on my own. I need you. I need you to give me the strength.
But look at this. It was the next generation of the children of Israel that got to go into the promised land. They didn’t make the same mistakes that their parents made. They didn’t make the same mistakes that their forefathers made, if you will. They got to go into the promised land. I want you to just to realize the differences here. When the children of Israel that came from Egypt, these were big men. I don’t know if anybody wants to carry several hundred pound brick up to a wall. Anybody want to be volunteers? All right, that’s what I thought. These were big men. These were men that were driven in slavery. These were big men.
And they were afraid because they were trusting in themselves. But then you have this next generation. They’re, you know, they’re in under. All they had was strong legs. They didn’t have anything else. They didn’t fight anybody. They just had strong legs. And you know what happened, though, is they put their trust not in themselves. They put their trust in God. And God was able to accomplish great things through that next generation.
Look at astronomy chapter 31. The first thing is that God wants to give us abundant life but we cannot do that on our own. The journey is just too great. The second thing, God has a job for you, but it’s too great for you. It’s too great for you to do. Deuteron.
I’ve got two more points. You are doing great. Deuteronomy 31 and verse number seven. Deuteronomy 31 verse number seven, the Bible says this, when Moses called unto Joshua and said into him and Israel, be strong. And of good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has shown unto their fathers to give them. And thou shalt cause them to inherit it. Look at this. Look at what it says in verse number eight, and the Lord. He it is that does before thee.
Will be with thee. He will not fail thee. Neither forsake thee. Fear not. Neither be dismayed. What was Moses’s challenge to John? He said, look, don’t make the same mistakes we did. God has already gone before you. God has already given you the strength. You just need to trust in him. Be of good courage. Because God is already before you. He’s never forsaken us. He is there before you. He’s already fought those challenges. For you to come.
So the first, the third thing here is passing on the mantle is too great of a journey. You know what, Moses passed on the leadership of the children of Israel to Joshua. That was what it was. Joshua was going to be the new commander-in-chief. He was going to be the one to take the children of Israel into the promised land, and he passed on the mantle. You know what’s amazing about Moses? The mantle that he passed on, he was able to show Joshua how to rely on God.
Throughout the time that Joshua was following Moses and Moses was leading the children of Israel into the wilderness, Joshua was there every end of it. And he was able to watch trust in God. You know what? We have a job. We have a duty to pass on the mantle to the next generation. We have a duty to pass on the mantle to someone else, to influence someone else. Think of this. You are the culmination of the thoughts and ideas of other people.
You were not your own man. You didn’t come up with something on your own. You are just a conglaboration, a mixture of everyone else’s ideas. Because influence is so strong. You can choose who influences you, but you cannot choose how they influence you. I’ll say that again, just because I think I said it wrong. I don’t know. But you can choose who influences you, but you cannot choose how they influence you. Your influence is amazing. God has given us the power of influence. And he wants us to influence the next generation.
God said, look, I need you to keep going. Why? Because there’s an Elisha out there that needs you to get back up. There is an Elisha out there that needs someone on to them. There is a child, there’s a teenager, there’s a co-worker, there’s a family member that needs you to get back up. They need you to pick up that mantle and trust in the Lord because they need the mantle. They need you to influence them for God. But you can’t do that alone. You can’t do that alone.
What did Moses say? He said, look, Joshua, I’ve trained you. You’re a good fighter. You go ahead and just do it. Go ahead. No, he didn’t tell him that. He said, look, be of good courage. Why? Because God has gone before thee. God has already fought those battles. We will be able to do our job if we are doing it in our own strength. Moses trusted that Joshua would succeed because he showed Joshua how to rely on God’s strength. And he knew that Joshua could do the same.
So what’s the thing that God gives this? What does God give us? And this journey that’s too great for us on passage is he gives us reinforcements. First Kings chapter 19, verse number 18 and 19, Elijah said, look, I’m the only one God. I’m the only one standing for you. And God says no. In verse number 18, he says, no, you’re not the only one. I’ve got 7,000 haven’t bowed the knee. They haven’t kissed bail. I’ve got people here. I’ve got other people. I’ve got reinforcements, if you will.
Man, you know what I love about church is we’re able to encourage one another to keep going. You know, I’m able to look at, I’m able to look at somebody and say, hey, you know what? You’re going through a lot right now. You’re able to do it because it’s not about you. It’s not about your strength. It’s not about you knowing the right verses. It’s your trust in God. It’s your trust in God. You can do that if you’re a kid. You can do that as a teenager. You can do that as an older person or whatever in between. You got it. But you can do that. You can trust in God at any age. Everybody can trust in God.
God has given us a church to encourage one another. Here’s what we encourage one another to deepen their commitment with God. You know what? I can take somebody that doesn’t know the Bible. I can take somebody that maybe can’t read or somebody that just maybe it’s all new to them. They’re a new Christian. And I can take them. And you know what my goal is? I’m going to strengthen their commitment with God. And if they have a strong commitment to God, then they’re able to grow.
Man, you could take somebody and feed them all this, you know, a bunch of information and, you know, all this doctrine and stuff. And it’s important. I’m for that. But if you take somebody and you feed that all to them, but they don’t have a strong commitment with God, they’re going to fall by the wayside. You have to have that strong commitment that no matter what, God has put me here. God is going to give me the strength to keep doing what else me to do. We have to remember that, that the journey is too great for ourselves.
Here’s the last thing. Let’s go ahead and look at Ephesians chapter two. Visions chapter two. Verse number eight and nine last point you’re doing a great job sticking with me two verse number eight and nine some of you know this by heart but we’ll turn there Ephesians chapter two verse number eight and nine if you’re there let me hear you say amen all right good you’re still awake out there we’re good we need to stand up do push-ups or i guess you don’t do push-ups jump-a-jacks all right good we’re doing good here we go uh Ephesians two verse nine the bible says this for by
Are you saved through faith? And that not of yourselves.
Lest any man should boast. You know what’s amazing is our salvation is too great for us to earn on our own. You earning your salvation, it’s just too great of a journey. You know how people get burned out and destroyed and how the death victory is he just brings so much confusion around and somebody just works their whole life trying to earn salvation just to find it at the end of their life, they weren’t good enough. Because you’ll never be good enough. You’ll never be able to earn your salvation you know what our salvation salvation is just too great of a journey we’ll never be able to earn our salvation god say there he says for by grace are you saved through faith and not not to yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast god knew that we couldn’t do it on our own but you know what god gave us grace god has given us the tools to be able to have salvation um
Merit-based salvation only has one criteria, and that’s perfection. Anybody want to raise your hand and tell us how perfect you are, and you’ve never done anything wrong? All right, okay, good, okay. But there’s just, there’s nobody here on earth that’s perfect. No one’s ever able to say, I’ve never done anything wrong in my whole life. No one’s ever been able to say that. But we have sinned, we have sin in our lives, and I cannot rely on myself to get me to heaven.
Salvation is this, simply this, putting your trust in God. You know, a lot of terms that we use being born again, you know, important. Those are key. Those describe what happens. But here it is in a nutshell. It’s me trusting in God. I’m not in myself. I’m not trusting in the church I go to, but I’m trusting in God to get me to heaven. I’m trusting in God for salvation. Many people have tried in vain to meet their own need of salvation, but it’s just vain. It’s emptiness. We can’t do it.
It is the easiest yet the most difficult thing that we must do. Easy for me to stand up here and tell you, you need to trust God and you do need to trust God. And it’s an easy thing to talk about, but it is a difficult thing to rely not on myself anymore, but take that reliance and put it in God. Put it in God. But it’s the most reward. We get heaven. We get heaven. Heaven is our gift. God has done work by becoming our substitute.
God offers us restitution. If any of you have a doubt of salvation, guess what? You can settle that today. But you have to remember this, that the journey of salvation is just too great for you. The journey that God has given you. We talk about the journey because that’s the important part. The end goal, man, that’s great. We talk about the end goal, but man, the great stories happen in the journey. The great things happen in the journey. And the journey that God has placed in front of you is too great for you to do alone.
If ever as much as I can bear and live a very fulfilled Christian life, I would be pretty sad, a pitiful excuse for a Christian. But God says this, I want to do something through you. I want to change the world through you. What did the disciples do? They fill Jerusalem with their doctor. They changed the world upside down. They turned the world upside down. That was because they didn’t rely on themselves. They trusted in God.
And God wants to do the same here. God wants to do the same thing in Smyrna. God wants to do the same thing with… But you have to be able to yourself, but rely on God for that strength. You’ve got to rely on God. Elijah showed strength in the Lord, and he accomplished much more than he did after that. Then there was so many more things that Elijah, if he would have just stopped, had he been really cool, cool stories that he had, but he didn’t stop.
Elijah kept going. Elijah had an Elisha that he could look and mentor to. Elijah had, he was able to get called up in it in a fiery chariot. But he did he do more things for God because he didn’t quit. When he reached the end of his life, when he reached the end of that gas tank, the God. And God gave him what he needed to finish the job.
Ask yourself this. You ready? Here’s three questions. Ask yourself this. Am I content on missing out on the journey ahead? Am I content with just sitting here and coasting? Am I content? Does a life of mediocrity sound like the life for me? Is that what I want? Because I want to say, okay, well, you did have, you know, you did, you’re here. All right. Okay, come on. You know, you’re here. The Bible talks about being saved so is by fire. You know, it’s just, just, just you’re here. You’re saved. All right. Great. That’s wonderful. Or do I want to go to heaven and God look at me and say, look, well done, a good and faithful service? God’s not going to say a person that just takes life on a whim and just let life pass you by and oh here you know i’ll come to church every now and then no god is looking for dedicated people to trust in him for that strength of the journey um and then here’s the last question what has god told me to do and i’ve ignored it what is god maybe you were you were younger and uh you were you were close to god told you i want you to do this and we ignored it and we disregarded
What is that in your life? What is God telling you now? What is God telling you in your life that you need to get right? And you need to trust in him more. What areas of your life can you trust God in? We know this verse. It’s great. Philippians 413, I can do all things. Is that what it says? No, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. It’s not about me. Not about my spiritual life and me, you know, getting all my righteousness right. No, it’s about me and my desire to rely on God’s strength.
Original File: The journey is too great for thee - Brother Anthony Aaron Sunday AM 11720