Episode Transcript
You're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as president of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you to you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland.
[00:00:43] I'm excited to continue this series with you. This morning on road trips. We're talking about journeys in the Bible and we're moving, moving our way chronologically through the Bible. Next week we're going to start a couple of stories from the New Testament, but this morning is the last one from the Old Testament. This morning is Journey to Jezreel. Now there is in the Bible the valley of Jezreel, but we're not dealing with that. We're actually dealing with an actual city, a town called Jezreel this morning. So turn, if you will to 1 Kings chapter 17. I just want to remind you of where we are in the story in, in the Bible, so to speak. So the children of Israel are taken out of slavery in Egypt. They go into the wilderness experience.
[00:01:22] Moses leads them out of Egypt, but because of sin and things that he's done, he's not able to enter the promised land. Joshua leads them into the prom Promised land. The children of Israel begin a season of conquest as they drive out all the the ite tribes, as we say, they drive them out of the land. They take ownership and conquest of the land. Joshua leads them in that when Joshua dies, they enter into a time of the Judges where they have these different leaders that judge. We think of that as law, legal, but that's not really what it was. They were people that were the judge in the sense that they were liberating the people from various oppression by Philistines and other ones. Like so we have the time of the Judges, but then the people cry out for a king. They're given Saul and then Saul, because again his sin, David takes the throne. But after David and his son Solomon, the kingdom is split in two. And so you have the northern kingdom of Israel, that's the 10 tribes. And you have the southern kingdom of Judah, which is Judah and Benjamin. Their capital is Jerusalem, of course. So this story takes place with Elijah the prophet, and he is dealing with King Ahab. And Ahab is the wicked king of the northern country, the northern kingdom of Israel. Okay, so this takes place in Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel. King Ahab, Elijah the prophet. So turn, if you will, to 1 Kings chapter 17. We're going to read verse one, and then we're going to skip to chapter 18. We just want to read one verse.
[00:02:56] This is the first place that Elijah is mentioned in the Bible.
[00:02:59] 1 Kings 17: and 1 and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab the king, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years except at my word. So I just want to stop right there. Elijah's never mentioned before. He shows up in verse one, and he shows up before King Ahab and he says, because of your wickedness, because of your sin, because of your idolatry, because of all the things that you were doing, it will not rain again until God tells me. He says, at my word. But Elijah is not calling the shots.
[00:03:35] He makes it clear. God has told me. God has told me it will not rain. And until God tells me it will rain, it will not rain until God gives me a word. So that is the first thing we see from Elijah. Now, chapter 18, turn over if you will. 1 Kings 18 and verse 38.
[00:03:54] It's been years now, no rain in Israel for years. And Elijah and Ahab have been duking it out. Ahab is constantly trying to kill Elijah. The prophet Elijah is escaping. And finally Elijah says, let's have a contest, have a contest between God and baal. He said, you call as many of the prophets of BAAL as you want, and if they can call down fire on the altar, on the offering, then we will know that BAAL is God. He says, but if I pray to Yahweh, to Jehovah, if I pray to God, the true God, and he sends down fire from heaven and consumes the altar, then the people will know that the Lord is God, right? So they have this spiritual conquest contest between the prophets of BAAL and Elijah on the other side. The prophets pray all day and nothing happens. Towards the end of the day, Elijah says one simple prayer. And this happens. 18 and 38. 1 Kings 18 and 38. Elijah says one prayer.
[00:04:51] Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. Let's pray. God ask in the next few moments that you will speak to us, each of us, all of us. We want to hear from you, myself included. Speak to us on this journey to Jezreel. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:05:25] High school sports follows a schedule almost exclusively, with rare exceptions. High school football is always played, almost always played on Friday nights. Now, every once in a while you'll play a varsity game on a Saturday morning or a Thursday. But almost exclusively high school football is played on Friday nights. High school basketball, of which I participated, the games are almost always. I don't know if this is still true, but for the most part, and especially when I was playing in high school, which was getting longer and longer and longer ago now, but when I was playing, we had games on Tuesdays and Fridays. That was always how it was. You had two games a week, you played on Tuesday, you played again on Friday.
[00:06:03] The game on Friday to me was always significantly more important than the game on Tuesday. And I'll tell you why. Because no matter what happened on Tuesday, whether we lost by 100 or whether we won by 100, no matter what happened in that game on Tuesday, no matter how well I played or how badly I played or how well the team did, I still had to get up and come to school on Wednesday. And we still were going to practice after school on Wednesday. No matter what happened on on Tuesday, right? We could play like an NBA team. We're still going to practice on Wednesday.
[00:06:36] But Friday was a completely different matter, okay? Because the coach that I had, if we won on Friday night, we didn't have to practice early on Saturday morning. So there was increased impetus to win on Friday night, right? There was a increased desperation on my part, at least. I don't know about anybody else on the team, but on my part I wanted to win on Friday for a couple of reasons. One, I didn't want to wake up early and come back to school on Saturday morning. Two, I was in love with a little brown eyed girl on the front row who is now my wife. And in high school I wanted to hang out with my girlfriend on Saturday. And I definitely didn't want to go to the gym at 8 o' clock in the morning on a Saturday and get yelled out by my coach about how we lost on Friday night. So I would tell those guys before the game, listen to me, I don't know if any of the rest of you losers have girlfriends, but I do. And we are going to win this game tonight. We are winning this game tonight.
[00:07:31] I wanted the win on Friday.
[00:07:34] Now, looking back on it all these years later, I think actually my coach missed an important thing, which is this.
[00:07:43] What you do immediately following a victory is significantly more important than you may think it is.
[00:07:51] We often experience the victory and we think of it as a standalone event in the otherwise sort of inconsequential life that we have. So we just, here's what we think. We mostly go along and there's not much happening. Not much happening. And every once in a while we have this magnificent victory that God does in our life and we go, yay, God.
[00:08:17] Now back to the mundane and the ordinary. But that is actually not what God has called us to be and be about and do. We are his people. We are the bride of Christ. And actually, now I know there's always going to be problems. There's always going to be seasons of issue and disappointment. We're always going to mess up. There's going to be seasons where it's not victorious all the time. But I want to tell you an encouraging thought this morning, which is this. God is calling you to much more seasons of victory than you are currently having. And taking ownership of God is not calling us to be beat up and beaten down by the world. And every once in a while, every once in a while, when we're almost every once, God gives us a victory and we go, oh, thanks God. Thank you, God. I can make it another six months now. I can. More for some of you, I can make it another six hours now. Right?
[00:09:09] That's not what it's supposed to be. Beaten down and beaten up and squeezed by the world and, and messed up and, and failures. And then every once in a while we win a game. Oh, we won't thank God. That's not what it's supposed to be. We're supposed to. Now, you are not going to have a life where you simply get to, to. To leapfrog from victory to victory to victory. All right? I'm a lot older than I was and I've been doing this a long time. And that's just not how it works. So I want you to hear me. I'm not just saying, oh, follow these three simple steps and you're never going to experience failure again. You're never going to have another problem again. I'm not saying that. Okay.
[00:09:47] What I am saying, though, is that we should expect to experience much more victories, much more regularly than we currently are. We serve the God who created the universe, and yet when it comes to our own personal life, we Always think we're losing. The God who spoke light into existence is on your side.
[00:10:12] He wants you to be victorious. We walk in his victory parade.
[00:10:17] So how can we experience that on a more regular basis? We don't just want one victory every decade.
[00:10:24] You can't just win one game right there. We want to see some uninterrupted victories. We want to string together a winning streak. We want to be victorious. I want that. I want that for you. I want this, that for this place, for this church, for all of us.
[00:10:42] How do we get there?
[00:10:44] The contest on Mount Carmel where Elijah prays fire down from heaven actually doesn't tell us a whole lot about victory. Ongoing victory, where we learn about ongoing victory is in the next couple of verses of chapter 18 that we almost never read. But the road, the journey to Jezreel gives us a magnificent template for experiencing consecutive victories and getting where we want to be. And that is what we want to talk about for just a moment this morning.
[00:11:17] So Elijah has prayed down, fire from heaven. Consume the offering. The people are in revival. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. Now look at what happens. Look, if you will, same chapter, verse 41, 1 Kings 18 and 41.
[00:11:33] Then Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound and abundance of rain. We're going to come back to that. For there is the sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. Then he bowed down on the ground, put his face between his knees.
[00:11:54] Now, this is fascinating. Elijah knew, just like with the contest he had had with the prophets of baal, Elijah knew that he had a part to play in the upcoming miracle that was about to happen.
[00:12:06] Elijah could tell after fire came down and consumed that offering and the people said, the Lord, he is God. And revival broke out.
[00:12:14] Elijah could sense something is different. What does he say? There is the sound of abundance of rain. Remember, it has not rained for years. Now there is a complete and total drought because of what Elijah said in chapter 17 and verse 1. No rain for years. And all of a sudden, Elijah says, something has shifted, something has changed. Something is different than it used to be.
[00:12:38] So Elijah knows that he is called to play a part in this. Just as he prayed a simple prayer on the top of Mount Carmel. And fire came down, just like over and over again. Moses had to take the staff and throw it on the ground, and it became a snake and pick it up, and it wasn't a snake anymore. Just as God told David, you need to attack when you hear the sound of marching in the mulberry trees. Just as the disciples brought Jesus bread and fish, and the miracle happened all the time, over and over again. In Old and New Testament, we are called to play a part in the miracle, in the victory that is about to happen. And so Elijah senses that there is the sound of the abundance of rain. And what does Elijah do? The first key on the journey to Jezreel is he begins preparation.
[00:13:26] Preparation. He immediately begins to prepare himself for the thing that is going to happen next. How does he prepare himself? Look again.
[00:13:36] And Elijah went to the top of Carmel. He bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees. How does Elijah prepare himself?
[00:13:47] He prepares himself in humility.
[00:13:51] He prepares himself in humility.
[00:13:54] He bows down on the ground, puts his face on the ground.
[00:13:58] What should Elijah have done? In the natural? What would we do, man? I'm throwing myself a victory parade. Are you kidding me? I don't know if you've prayed fire down from heaven recently, but if I pray fire down from heaven, I'm writing a book. You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:15] I'll be like, hey, who wants to come to my church? I'm the guy in Cartersville who prayed fire down from heaven.
[00:14:22] It consumed everything. The offering, the stones, the dirt. Remember this? We didn't go into it, but they poured water on the offering because Elijah said, I don't want there to be any confusion about what God's going to do here. And it says, the water burned. The fire burned up the water. If I pray down God, fire. That burns up water, buddy. We're having a victory parade. You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:44] In the natural, what is the most natural thing to do when you win?
[00:14:50] Talk about how great you are in the victory.
[00:14:54] Every time a team wins a game, what do you go to the press conference and what do you talk about? How great you did? Right? If it's baseball, I struck out 15 guys, or I hit three home runs, or I scored 35 points in the NBA Finals or whatever it is.
[00:15:10] See, it's the exact opposite. In the natural, if we want to experience regular and consistent victories, we have to understand what God is calling us to be about. And many of us are not going to experience regular, consistent victories because we get distracted throwing ourselves a victory parade.
[00:15:29] We get distracted talking about me. Look at how great I weigh them. Look at what I've done. Look at what I prayed. One prayer and fire came down from heaven. I'm amazing. I'm like the greatest prophet ever.
[00:15:43] I'm Elijah, right? Elijah wants none of that.
[00:15:48] He tells Ahab, you go have a party. You see that? He tells, what does Ahab have to party about? He just lost the contest, right? He didn't pray down fire. He tells ahab, you are operating in the natural, so you go have a party. I am going to worship God in humility.
[00:16:05] I'm not going to make it about myself. Ahab has a party. Elijah goes by himself to the top of the mountain and humbles himself before the Lord.
[00:16:14] In ancient Rome, whenever they would have a major military victory in ancient Rome, they would have a victory parade.
[00:16:23] And the troops would march in. The soldiers would march in from some far off land where they had beaten, you know, the Gauls or invaded England and won a victory there, France, whatever it was, they would return to Rome, the troops would march in, and the people would be there scouting and yelling and screaming. And the general that commanded the troops would be at the head of that victory parade. He's not marching. He's standing up in the back of a chariot, doing a little victory parade wave, right?
[00:16:53] Hello, Roman citizens.
[00:16:56] Look at all the things I've done. Look at the victory that I've won. And the people are screaming your name, his name, screaming his name, yelling out, you did it. Thank you for your victory. Thank you for what you've done. And they're throwing flowers in the road, and they're offering him gifts, and they're screaming just to touch his clothes as he's in the back of the chariot, waving.
[00:17:17] But he's not alone in the chariot. This is fascinating. He's not alone in the chariot. Directly behind the conquering general is a slave. And the slave stands behind the general and whispers in his ear, remember, you are only mortal.
[00:17:33] Remember, you are only mortal.
[00:17:36] Remember, you are only mortal.
[00:17:40] There is a way in that, that the Romans understood victory much better than we, the bride of Christ, do.
[00:17:47] Too often we convince ourselves that we worked the miracle that brought about the victory.
[00:17:53] Elijah had nothing to do with that other than a simple prayer on the top of Mount Carmel. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that victory belonged to God's. And he was unwilling to take any of the credit for himself.
[00:18:06] If you want to see victory in your life, blessing, opportunity, you want to see doors open that have been closed, you've got to be able to take your hands off of it. And somebody says, wow, that was amazing what just happened in your life. You've got to say, that was God. And God Alone. I had nothing to do with that. You give God back the glory.
[00:18:28] You give him the glory and you will see more victory. You give him the glory again and you will see more victory. And then you begin to roll up the winds. You begin to see a winning streak because God is doing something in your life, because you are giving it all back to him.
[00:18:45] You get down on your knees, you put your face on the ground and you say, God, this victory belongs to you and you alone. I am honored to play a small part. I am honored to be chosen to have the prayer that brought the fire down.
[00:18:59] The first thing is preparation in humility.
[00:19:04] Next, look at the next verse.
[00:19:06] Verse 43, he's up on the mountain, he's humbling himself before the Lord. And then he begins to pray, right? He's on his knees, he begins to pray.
[00:19:14] Verse 43. And he said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea.
[00:19:20] The servant went up and looked and said, there is nothing.
[00:19:22] And seven times Elijah said, go again.
[00:19:28] Now the first thing, in order to see victory upon victory upon victory, in order to inherit what God has for us at Jezreel, we have to prepare ourselves in humility. But the next thing we have to remember is that there is a process.
[00:19:42] There is a process in inheriting the next victory.
[00:19:46] And that process is prayer. We prepare ourselves in humility. We refuse to take glory that doesn't belong to us. We push all of it back on God. God did this. God did it totally and completely. But in the process, the process requires us to pray. And let me tell you something, the process requires us to pray repeatedly.
[00:20:08] There is a process to inheriting the next victory. They don't come easy and they don't come quick and they don't come cheap. They're not just. You don't just get to say an offhand casual prayer and pray, fire down from heaven. In the same way, if it hasn't rained in years and years and years, there is a drought, then you're going to have to spend some time in prayer before the rain comes again. You see that? But the problem is in our immediacy of how we live, in the immediacy of everything. Everything is at a fingertips, everything's on our phone that you can get anything you want, you can order it, you pay enough, you can have it the next day. You're hungry at 2 o' clock in the morning, you can go to a drive through and get anything you want to eat. You see that? And because of the immediacy of the culture and the country that we live in, we have lost our, a lot of our understanding. On the process of prayer.
[00:21:04] There is a process. You're going to have to work hard again. The same thing is true in the sports that we're talking about in wins. If you think you can just win a game and never practice again and continue to win games, you don't understand how sports works.
[00:21:20] The same thing is true in this. You had a victory on Mount Carmel. If you want to experience what God is giving you in Jezreel, you've got to go through the process of prayer. And it can be long and it can be discouraging and it can be painful.
[00:21:34] I remember a couple that was in my previous church and they struggled, struggled to have children and it was painful for them. They couldn't have kids. Then they had several miscarriages and it was awful. They would. They came in my office one time and she wept. I mean, she wept the most.
[00:21:56] It was heart wrenching for me. It was just the most pitiful weeping. And she said, I don't understand and I don't know what's going on.
[00:22:04] And listen to me, there is nothing you can tell anybody in that moment other than we have to believe in the sovereignty of God and we have to keep praying. We can't just stop, we can't just quit. We can't just give up.
[00:22:18] But they went through it year after year. Nothing.
[00:22:24] Before I left that church, I had the honor to dedicate two of their children. They didn't see God, didn't just.
[00:22:33] God didn't just give them one. All she said to me the whole time, the whole time, what she said to me is, I just want a baby. I just want a son.
[00:22:44] But see, God in his infinite mercy and grace didn't give her one. He gave her two boys. Do you see that? But in order to get to those two boys, she had to go through a horrible, painful process.
[00:22:55] You have to pray and keep praying and keep praying and keep praying. And it's not fun and it's hurtful and it's painful. And you don't understand why you're going through it. You don't understand what God is trying to show you in the moment. Or what is God doing? Or why can't he do this quicker or faster, whatever. But that is the process of prayer.
[00:23:13] I also think that God is reminding Elijah of what the process looks like. Because what had just happened on Mount Carmel, one prayer, do you see it? Elijah didn't pray seven times. He prayed once and fire Came down from heaven and burned up the offering. Now he goes and begins to pray about rain, about God breaking the drought.
[00:23:37] You had to assume, if you're Elijah, you had to assume that Elijah said, well, this is it. This is going to be easy, right?
[00:23:47] I just prayed one prayer and prayed down fire from heaven. This is going to be simple. There's nothing to it. I'm going to pray one time. So he gets down on his knees, he humbles himself, he prays, and he turns to his servant and says, hey, go see if there's a storm out there, man.
[00:24:01] He says, go see if you can see some clouds out there. Servant goes out and looks, comes back and goes, there's not a cloud in the sky. If I was Elijah, I'd be like, what?
[00:24:12] Okay, well, it's not one. All right? You don't get one every time, but you're going to get it on two. I'll pray again, sends him out second time. No clouds, no clouds, no clouds, no clouds, no clouds. Six times.
[00:24:26] There is nothing in the sky. I am telling you, there are moments where the victory comes with one prayer. And there are moments where it requires prayer after prayer after prayer after prayer. But if you want to get to the next victory, if you want to see what God is going to do in your life on the road to Jezreel, you got to keep praying. Don't quit, don't stop, don't give up. Don't convince yourself that God is not going to do something. Keep praying. Remember, there was the sound of the abundance of rain. He could hear it, but he couldn't see it yet. He hadn't experienced it yet, but he knew it was coming. He heard it. And so he knew, I'm going to stay right here on my knees, humble myself, and I'm going to pray until God sends rain.
[00:25:11] Now, sometimes for some of us, that takes years and years and years and years.
[00:25:16] When I was first starting in ministry, 2006, more than 20 years ago now, 20 years ago, 2006, I was finishing my master's degree. I felt like God had called me away from working for my dad at his missions organization and called me to be a pastor at a church. I'd never worked at a church, never been a youth pastor, never been a kids pastor, nothing. I had no church experience.
[00:25:47] I just felt like God is calling me to work at a church, right?
[00:25:53] And I said, okay, got a good resume. I just finished my master's degree.
[00:25:59] I'm gonna.
[00:26:00] I'm gonna just.
[00:26:02] It's gonna happen for Me like that.
[00:26:07] Three years later.
[00:26:10] Three years later, I was offered a job at a church. Three years.
[00:26:17] And here's the most galling part. I was the second choice at about seven or eight churches during that process, turning my resume. Oh, we like you. We want to interview. We talked to them on the phone. They call me back. I'm sorry, Travis, we've decided to go with the other candidate.
[00:26:33] I'm sorry, Travis. We've gone with the other candidate.
[00:26:36] I went to one church and preached twice.
[00:26:39] They heard me preach twice, and then they went with the other guy. Do you know how humiliating that is?
[00:26:46] Had me come once. That's okay. They had me come back again and then decide, no, no, no, no. This guy's terrible. We need the other guy.
[00:26:54] Like seven or eight churches.
[00:26:56] Every time.
[00:26:58] Every time.
[00:26:59] Now, I understand all of you may be sitting there going, how big of a deal is that? It's not. Other than the humiliation of it. If you don't understand it, I can't explain it to you. I got an interview one time with a church board, and before the interview started, the chairman of the board said, I just want you to know that the only reason we're interviewing you is because you're Mark Rutland's son.
[00:27:21] I was like, well, thanks a lot, man.
[00:27:24] So I did the whole interview with him. When the interview ended, he said, I want to apologize to you. He said, you are really talented. You had some good answers. You had some good thoughts. He said, I want to apologize to you. I think you're great, and I really enjoyed this interview. Thank you for joining us. I got home, I said, courtney, that is the one. I totally changed that guy 180 degrees. I totally changed him. They called me a week later and said, we went with the other guy. I was like, God, what are we doing here?
[00:27:55] Right? You just prayed, fire down. One prayer, and you prayed, fire down. Now, time after time, it's humiliating. Your servant keeps going out to look for clouds, right? Imagine how humiliating that is. The servant's like, elijah, please don't make me do this again.
[00:28:11] He gets embarrassed for him. He's like, okay, I'll go look.
[00:28:15] No clouds, buddy. Keep praying.
[00:28:19] Four, five, six times.
[00:28:23] But if you want to see sustained victory in your life, you have to recognize that victory is a process. And prayer is the only weapon we have in that process.
[00:28:34] We prepare ourselves with humility, and then we walk out the process of prayer. And sometimes there's nothing to do except say to yourself, I will not quit. I will not stop. I will not give up. I will pray until I see a cloud in the sky. I am not quitting.
[00:28:55] Don't stop too soon.
[00:28:57] Don't stop too soon now, though, watch what God does. Verse 44.
[00:29:04] Then it came to pass the seventh time that the servant said, there is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea.
[00:29:16] So Elijah said, go up and say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.
[00:29:22] Now, it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode ahead and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
[00:29:40] Right? We've prepared ourselves in humility.
[00:29:43] We've worked through the process of prayer. But the final step has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. And that is the promise is given. The promise is fulfilled. It will not rain again until I speak the Word. And now, in that moment, years later, as the land has suffered through drought, now the promise appears. But remember this. The promise had nothing to do with Elijah. Elijah didn't make the cloud appear. That is God. That's what we have to remember if we want to see the victory. We stay humble and we keep praying. The victory, the blessing, the miracle, the supernatural, the spirit, spiritual stuff that we can't control. All of that happens from God.
[00:30:27] All we have to do is stay humble and keep praying.
[00:30:30] That is actually wonderful news, because I'm not then required to make fire come down from heaven or make it rain. All I'm required to do is stay humble and keep praying.
[00:30:40] You don't think it can happen. You've got this thing that's going on. You've got sickness in your family. You've got this financial burden. Stay humble and keep praying.
[00:30:50] You can't make the miracle happen. You can't bring the healing to pass. What all of us can do, what each of us can do, what every single one of us can do, just like Elijah, is stay humble and keep praying. Stay humble and keep praying. Stay humble and keep praying.
[00:31:06] And then listen to me. This is such. I Love this verse 30:44. Look at it again.
[00:31:14] And the servant said, there is a cloud small as a man's hand.
[00:31:19] Imagine that.
[00:31:21] That's it.
[00:31:22] That's the size of our cloud.
[00:31:25] There's not a cloud in the sky. Six times, and the seventh time, he goes and he looks and he says, there's a Cloud the size of a man's hand rising out of the sea. Now, if I'm Elijah, I'm going to pray again to make sure that God makes that cloud bigger, right? Or that he sends more clouds.
[00:31:46] A cloud the size of a man's hand doesn't look like it's going to be able to do what a land that is beset by drought for years and years needs.
[00:31:58] If it hasn't rained in years and years, how big of a deal can a cloud the size of a man's hand be?
[00:32:04] But remember, Elijah had already heard the sound of the abundance of rain.
[00:32:10] I want to tell you something this morning. Once you see the cloud, you don't need to pray anymore.
[00:32:16] Once you see the cloud, you don't have to keep asking God for the promise. Once you see the cloud, you don't keep have to keep asking God for the miracle and the blessing. Once you see the cloud, what he said he would do, he is faithful to complete it. Once you see the cloud, you know that the blessing is on the way.
[00:32:35] You, the promise is there. It's yours.
[00:32:38] So often God opens doors of opportunity that we've been praying about. And then we ask him again, God, is this the door that I've been praying that you open?
[00:32:49] That's a crazy prayer.
[00:32:51] You know that, right? If you pray, God, if it's your will, open this door and the door opens for you, brother, you don't need to pray anymore. You hear what I'm saying? Walk through the door.
[00:33:03] You prayed for him to open it. Walk through the door. When the cloud the size of a man's hand appears out of the sea, you don't have to pray anymore for rain. Because the God who said he would bring the rain is the same God who brought the fire from heaven. You can move forward. Into what?
[00:33:21] The next victory.
[00:33:23] The next victory.
[00:33:25] Elijah didn't hesitate. I want you to see this. Elijah didn't hesitate.
[00:33:29] Watch what happens. He says, that's the rain. So he tells his servant, go and tell Ahab to get in his chariot and start going to Jezreel. Because it's going to rain so hard that the chariot is going to bog down in the mud.
[00:33:45] But Elijah doesn't stay on the mountaintop and keep praying. He knows that the cloud the size of a man's hand is the promise that he's been waiting for.
[00:33:56] Because he moves forward and inherits that victory.
[00:34:00] Now he gets another victory.
[00:34:03] Look at the end. 46.
[00:34:06] Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
[00:34:17] He ran. He outran a chariot to the town.
[00:34:22] He's an old prophet.
[00:34:24] I don't know a lot about prophets, but we don't have great knees. Okay?
[00:34:30] The guy's been kneeling on the ground on a mountaintop.
[00:34:34] Can you imagine what he looked like when he ran by Ahab? You remember the cartoons where their legs are going and he's just going like this, but his upper body is staying still and he's just like this. And he just goes by and Ahab looks over. Ahab's driving his chariot, and he looks over, and Elijah's just like this, right?
[00:34:56] He just goes right.
[00:35:00] Do you see that?
[00:35:01] That is a victory again.
[00:35:04] See, what we think is the rain coming is the victory. But because he was humble, because he prayed it through, and when he saw the cloud the size of a man's hand, he got off the mountaintop because he knew that God was good for his word, because that happened. Then he inherited another miracle. On the journey to Jezreel, he outran a chariot in the supernatural power of God. The hand of God came upon him, and God just scooted him along and he just ran all the way to Jezreel. Ran right past Ahab's chariot all the way to Jezreel. Fire from heaven, rain from God.
[00:35:43] The fastest hundred meter sprint you've ever seen in your life, right? What does that show us?
[00:35:50] Victory upon victory upon victory.
[00:35:55] Too many of us stay on Mount Carmel when the fire has fallen, we stay right there and we go. We live in the past.
[00:36:05] We say, you remember, I'm Elijah. You want to get a picture with me? You want my autograph?
[00:36:10] This is where I called down fire from heaven 20 years ago.
[00:36:15] As for your life, the same God who brought the fire down wants to do another miracle and another miracle and another miracle and another miracle. That's what you see.
[00:36:27] That's what God wants to do.
[00:36:29] That's what God wants you to be about.
[00:36:32] You think the fire is the pinnacle of my ministry.
[00:36:36] And that is what Elijah is the best known for. But that wasn't the end. That was the beginning. In the next five verses, he has two more victories. Do you see that? The road to Jezreel is about victory, victory, victory, victory.
[00:36:51] That's what Elijah got. And that's what we also want to inherit.
[00:36:55] Humility, prayer.
[00:36:59] God brings the victory when he does humility and prayer.
[00:37:05] And God brings the victory.
[00:37:07] Let me close with this.
[00:37:11] We have as we celebrate 250 years of America. We have in America not something that is unique to our country, but we have characters that are unique to our country, which is folk heroes, American legends, most of them. You'll know the names. Paul Bunyan, maybe the most famous one.
[00:37:32] Johnny Appleseed.
[00:37:35] For those of you from Texas, as my wife and father are Pecos Bill. Courtney's favorite folk hero is Pecos Bill because she's from Texas. You have all these different ones.
[00:37:46] It's a very Americana type thing. I'm sure other countries have folk heroes. They're not as cool as ours though, obviously.
[00:37:56] Right?
[00:37:57] All of them are great.
[00:37:59] You know what my favorite one is?
[00:38:01] John Henry. I love the story of John Henry. John Henry was a steel driving man. I love the story of John Henry because it is a story of hard work and diligence and dedication and sacrifice. Do you remember the story? John Henry drives rail. He works for the railroad.
[00:38:19] He digs through mountains.
[00:38:21] One day a guy shows up with a machine.
[00:38:25] He says, this machine can dig through the mountain, make a tunnel for the train faster than any man can.
[00:38:31] And the owner of the railroad says, well, if I buy that machine, I'll be able to fire all these men. I won't have to pay all these railroad workers.
[00:38:39] The other workers go to John Henry and they say, John, what are we going to do? We're about to be out of a job.
[00:38:44] John Henry says, I can dig through the mountain faster than the machine.
[00:38:50] And they set up a contest because John Henry was a steel driving man.
[00:38:56] I love the legend of John Henry. And he takes two hammers and he becomes begins to dig through the mountain.
[00:39:05] But the machine doesn't feel pain. The machine doesn't get tired. The machine doesn't sweat.
[00:39:10] And the workers are cheering for him. John, keep going, keep going.
[00:39:14] Because the boss said if John out drives the machine, everybody can keep their job. But if the machine wins, you're all out of work. And they're cheering for him. And the machine doesn't quit. It just keeps going and going.
[00:39:26] But John Henry is diligent because he is a steel driving man.
[00:39:31] At the very end, the dust comes up. They're not sure who got further. They measure it out.
[00:39:37] And John Henry wins by feet.
[00:39:40] By just mere feet. He out drives the machine.
[00:39:44] He lies on the ground exhausted. And his co workers come up to him and they say, you did it, John. You beat the machine.
[00:39:51] And John Henry holds his hammer and says, I told you I could.
[00:39:55] And he dies.
[00:39:57] He dies. His heart stops. He literally worked himself to Death for his friends.
[00:40:03] And in that victory, yes, it's victory.
[00:40:07] But John Henry never got to see another victory.
[00:40:10] He died in the moment of victory.
[00:40:14] Now, I know it is slightly different for us.
[00:40:18] I know that a folk song about John Henry is not exactly the same.
[00:40:22] But listen to me.
[00:40:25] I want to encourage you.
[00:40:27] There is nothing actually that heroic about dying at the pinnacle of your victory.
[00:40:36] I love John Henry. I love the story. But I hated that he died at the end.
[00:40:41] I wanted him to go around the country and beat other machines.
[00:40:46] As an anti technology person, I really like that.
[00:40:52] Like John Henry of 2026.
[00:40:57] But he didn't.
[00:41:00] I want to encourage you this morning.
[00:41:02] That victory from five years ago that you're still telling people about, that wasn't the pinnacle of your life and your calling.
[00:41:12] That was simply another victory on the road of life. And God wants to give you a bunch more.
[00:41:19] God wants to give you victory after victory after victory after victory.
[00:41:23] He doesn't want this one defining moment and then you never see any more victory again. You never see any more triumph. That's not what God has for your life.
[00:41:32] That's not what God's calling you to be about.
[00:41:35] Fire from heaven, Rain breaks the drought.
[00:41:39] God makes you run faster than a chariot. Boom, boom, boom.
[00:41:45] And they don't stop.
[00:41:47] God continues to move in the life of Elijah.
[00:41:51] That's what we want.
[00:41:52] That's what I want. That's what I want for each of you. That's what I want for this place. I don't want this place to be known as a church that had one miracle 40 years ago.
[00:42:02] As we celebrate our 90th anniversary, I am in anticipation of victories for the next 90 years.
[00:42:09] Do you see what I'm saying?
[00:42:11] Stuff that is going to happen here when nobody even remembers my name, when I'm no longer the pastor here, when I'm long gone, there's still going to be victories happening here because we become a place of humility and a place of prayer.
[00:42:26] We do that and we will see the victories continue.
[00:42:31] Here's how I'm going to close this message.
[00:42:35] I'm just going to open the altars for a few minutes.
[00:42:38] Matthew and the team, the band, they're going to return.
[00:42:41] Not going to pray about the perseverance of prayer to then not give you an opportunity to persevere in prayer.
[00:42:49] Pastor Chris and some of the altar team are going to be here. If you want to pray with somebody, great. If you want to. They want you want them to agree with you, great. If you want to come up to you by your own and pray great.
[00:43:00] Some of you are needing the next miracle.
[00:43:03] Some of you are needing that thing on the road to Jezreel. Some of you have experienced Carmel, but you need the next victory. Some of you are in the midst of something and you need this victory. Now. I don't know what you're facing. What I know is humility and prayer will always bring about victory.
[00:43:20] God does it his way, his timing. I don't control any of that. What I can control is me.
[00:43:26] And what we have to be about is a people of humility and a people of prayer.
[00:43:31] I'm going to give you that opportunity. We're just going to come to the front, pray right there. I don't care what you do, but let's spend a moment in prayer persevering for the victory that we want to see. Let's pray. God asks that you would finish this simple message in the hearts of every person here.
[00:43:49] God, for those of us who have seen victory, help us not to camp on the mountain. Help us to know that there are more victories ahead. Help us not to hold on to it so tightly that we miss all the stuff you want to do next.
[00:44:00] God, for those of us who have seen victory, God, help us to be humble so that we can experience more victory in the future. God, help us to experience more victory. For those who are praying as Elijah prayed, they say, I feel like the rain is coming. I can hear the abundance. I can hear the sound of the abundance of rain. For those who are praying for that rain, God, give them the strength to persevere.
[00:44:25] Give them the strength to not quit. Give them the commitment and the diligence to not give up as John Henry did, to keep going and keep going and keep going. Don't quit praying.
[00:44:37] The altars are going to be open. The moment is yours. This is between you and God. But if you need that victory, if you need that rain, if you need that fire, whatever it is you need, in Jesus name, humble yourself and pray and receive all that God wants to do in your life.
[00:44:58] In Jesus name we pray.
[00:45:00] Amen.
[00:45:02] Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland podcast. If you enjoyed this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube.
[00:45:15] We'll see you next week for a another message from Travis Rutland.
