Priscilla Shirer | God Has a Purpose for This Season of Your Life

if you get to Mount ((music playing)) Carmel and you have not been first in cherith and then in zarap you will stand on Mount Carmel quaking in your boots not able to have the resolution that will be required listen to me for every single one of us that have placed faith in Jesus Christ caramel is coming I just wanted to give you a little bit of encouragement and also challenge to be honest with you I've been thinking a lot about discipleship about growth about spiritual growth that's basically what discipleship is it's about fixing your eyes on Jesus and then through the es and flows in different seasons of Life becoming more like Christ it's the whole goal of sanctification it's the whole goal of our life with Christ that until we see him face to face we are becoming more like him so I've been thinking about how the progression happen over the course of life I got to be honest with you I think the reason why this has been on my mind is because I'm headed into my 50th year of life and every now and then it kind of occurs to me oh I used to be youngish and now I'm not old but I'm oldish and so I start thinking about those seasons of life where I encountered people who helped to challenge me and help me to see clearly what it was like to be conformed Into His Image to reflect reflect christlikeness it happened in the UPS of life but honestly it also happened in the Downs of life it's not just the mountains it's The Valleys it's the parts of our Lives we do not prefer the parts of our Lives we wouldn't ask to go through again the parts of our Lives we were praying God would hurry up and get us through real quick so we could get on to the good stuff but we don't realize until hindsight that there was good stuff that was happening when we were in those seasons of pain or disappointment or loneliness or Seasons where we felt like things weren't flourishing and being cultivated in the way that we would have preferred it's there that we learned endurance where our character was conformed to the image of Christ where we learned patience where we learned how to have our faith fortified and not need to have the um ability to impress people or have the improval of people because we were all by oursel and the Lord made us depend on him that happens most frequently in the hard Seasons so anyway as I've been kind of looking back on the 25 years that I've been in in full-time vocational Ministry but really looking back to the season when I was about 8 n 10 years old when I came to the Lord and Savior then you know went through those teenage years uh and I was doing the most during my teenage years and then 20s and 30s and all through my 40s I've been thinking a lot about this maturity growth the stages of our walk with with God and one of the narratives in scriptures one of the Personalities in the Old Testament that most uh gives me a picture of this and who I'm most endeared to is Elijah I had the privilege of writing an entire Bible study on a portion of The Narrative of Elijah and man I enjoyed every moment of that writing process because even as I'm writing or studying something God is speaking to me challenging me and giving me direction and insight here's something about the Ark of Elijah's story that if you're not looking at it comprehens princi Le you can kind of miss it when you're and you know Elijah I mean most of us know the name we know the highlights of his story but if you're not looking at the whole Arc of when he comes into view in the scriptures and then sort of uh matures into these positions where he's in front of a lot of people where he is the declarer of God's truth in the midst of a decline in culture if you don't see the whole Ark you might miss the progression you might think he just arrived on Mount Carmel and was this Majestic picture and de clar of God's truth in the midst of all that adversary but he did not start there it's First Kings chapter 17 where we meet him and this man after declaring God's word to the king then he is relegated Alone by himself by this Brook called cherith was the name of the brook he had nothing to sustain him that he could produce or generate on his own it was a drought in the land so there was no water in the brook that he was about the brook dried up he's sitting there not knowing how he's going to going to drink he's not knowing how he's going to get his daily bread and the Lord you got to read it is so great the Lord supernaturally provides for this man this is how the ministry of Elijah starts it starts with just him and he has to learn how to depend on God for his daily bread like not not miraculous stuff that will impress other people it's not about other people it's just him he literally needs to eat he needs bread for the day he need he needs water to drink and his eyes are turned upwards just saying God how are we going to do this and he's fixed his eyes on the Lord and he learns alone at cherith how to depend on God so before Mount Carmel before there are thousands of people not only challenging his dependence on Yahweh but also people who are going to be stirred in their own commitment to Yahweh because of his his own consistency and faithfulness before all of that publicity he's by himself this is the season we don't like when we're just by ourself when things seem smaller than we wish when we need to count on God for literally Our Daily Bread whether it's physical um sustenance or whether it is in Ministry we're we're looking for what is it that we're going to teach in Bible study this week and we kind of man things are dried up it's a drought in our health in our finances we actually have to turn our attention to God and say Lord if you don't do it there's no other way that is exactly where Elijah's Ministry started and what I'm trying to say to you is that season is not a wasted season had it not been for cherith he would not have been able to have the character and the resolve and the fortitude to stand flat-footed on Mount Carmel a few chapters later and say to everybody gathered choose ye this day whom you going to serve you know why he had that sort of resolution it's because he'd been at cherith by himself Watching God supernaturally sustain him and provide for him in the most fundamental ways so don't rush That season that's what I want to tell you do not rush That season if you come out of it too soon you're going to abort the processes that God was trying to establish in you the character he was trying to establish in you and let me tell you this Spotlight that everybody wants if that Spotlight hits you before you are ready and you do not have the character for it it will burn you to a crisp that is honestly what we see happening so much in our culture today it kind of burdens me not kind of it does it burdens me because there are many um benefits to social media but one of them one of the negatives to it is that it has given everybody a platform it's given everybody a microphone it has Amplified voices that are not mature enough yet to be Amplified and yet they have an audience because they're charismatic or they're articulate or they are handsome or beautiful and it's giving them a microphone um but they actually do not have a depth of relationship with the Lord that can sustain them because they aborted the process of just being with Jesus of getting to know how to pray to hear his voice to know his character to trust him for the fundamental details of their life that is what cherith is for and after Elijah is at sherith it says in First Kings 17 I believe verse 6 then the word of the Lord came to him when it was time and said to him go now to zarap so in zarap Elijah moves from being alone to being with this Widow in zarap you know the story this is the Widow who does not have enough food to be able to sustain her and her son she says I you know we're going to die after we eat this little cake of bread that I'm about to make we're going to die I have nothing left and he says well take what you do have take the jars you do have to all your neighbors and basically the Lord does a miracle and gives her an overflow that is able to sustain her and her family for years to come so Elijah moves from being alone and now he's in the context of a family he does not go from being alone to Mount Carmel public Ministry is not the next step the next step is in the local cont context of a community more specifically in this case in the context of a home he is ministering to the people that are up close and personal to him not at a distance the people who are right in his current sphere God moves him right here and says your ministry first is right here at home and so is yours and so is mine the people that are right there underneath the roof of your own house house if they do not live with you physically in the house when I say house I'm mean within your local context God has given you roommates he has given you co-workers he has given you people that you rub elbows with at church they're in your discipleship group they are people that are in those organizations in which you're involved they're the people that God has called you to disciple or maybe who will also help to disciple you they are right there and he has specifically positioned you there not only because of what he's going to equip you to do for them but because of what he's equipped them that you don't even realize and tell hindsight that he's equipped them to do for you you need what is going to be built in you because you have rubbed elbows with the people who are in close con uh con um contact with you do you ever realize I do how sometimes the hardest relationships are with the people who are most closely connected to us because those are the people you have to resolve conflict with those are the people you have to talk through stuff with those are the people you actually have to be patient with those are the people that you have to overlook some of their deficiencies and weaknesses and give them and extend to them Absolute Grace just like the Lord has extended to you those are the people you have to be merciful with like you know the fruit of the spirit kindness restraint self-control all that stuff we don't have to do that necessarily in public Ministry because it's just a mass of people standing out there on the edge of Mount Carmel but when you in the house when you're in the context of personal connection with individuals who you go to church with school with University with work with do Zoom calls with day in and day out and you have to exhibit the fruit of the spirit to relate to them in a way that honors God that's not just blessing them you won't realize until hindsight that that was maturing you so if you skip Sheriff if you and I skip the value and the benefit and don't realize the Bounty that is hidden in the Treasure of close local environments which by the way come on I'm kind of on my little soap box right now but this is by the way y'all why you cannot disconnect yourself from the local church this right here is why of course Hebrews says do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together I hope that you're enjoying all of the online Ministry that is available to us like never before I hope that you're listening to every qualified and healthy teacher preacher books resources via simoc cast technology that you can listen to I hope you are so that you are being built up and matured in your faith none of that is supposed to replace your involvement in the local church I I said involvement specifically not attendance but involvement church is not just supposed to be about once a week you and I showing up to worship God it is about the worship of God but Church local context was it what it also does is mature you it allows you to see where there are gaps in the house of God and then for the Holy Spirit to quicken in you and older wiser more mature Believers to point to you and say you're the one you you don't even realize you're the one that that you've been waiting for that we've been waiting for you have the gifts the talents the equipping by God's spirit to fill in this Gap some of the reason why I think often times it takes us a while to realize what God's plans and purposes and his will is for our life some of that God doesn't expose until we're walking in obedience over years and he continues to open that up but some of the reason why we don't come to know it is because we're disconnected from the local church and it's within the context of the local community of God's people that we see needs and then come to Divine sacred Revelation that God God has equipped us to fill that so he awakens passion he awakens purpose he awakens a sacred assignment within the context of local community don't skip that because if you get to Mount Carmel and you have not been first in cherith and then in zarap you will stand on Mount Carmel quaking in your boots not able to have the resolution that will be required listen to me for every single one of us that have placed faith in Jesus Christ caramel is coming Mount Carmel is when you are standing by yourself oo listen to me young believers you going to be by yourself more and more in our uh postchristian culture in which we live you going to be by yourself in order to be clear about your commitment to the word of God the truth of God in order to stand flat it and say things that are not politically correct like there is only one way to have a relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ to be clear about your views on identity to be clear about God's definition about certain things that Society right now is negotiating for you to be clear you going to have to stand all by yourself to do it caramel is hard it ain't no joke to have the resolution and the fortification we're going to need for that y'all we're going to have to have an internal for fortitude that can only come through the stages that God takes us through so that when our moment comes where yes there are few eyes on us and we're going to have to have the resolution to not um cave underneath the pressure of peers to be able to do that we're going to have to have a real thing going on with Jesus that's not about the Applause of people it's not about whether they like us or not it's not about whether or not they approve or not it's that we know that he is who he said he is he can do what he says he can do and we have a friendship with him that is for Real there's stages that God takes you through so that you are prepared for those karmas and so I just wanted to encourage you about that that the journey is sticky life is out here lifing but he is able to keep you from falling and to to present you faultless before the throne with exceeding great joy to the only wise God our savior both now and forever he is Jesus Christ and it is in these in his name that I seal this message in your heart in Jesus name amen