8/29/20151 Maximum Load Limit

Setting: 1 Kings 18 God’s Triumph Over Baal at Mt. Carmel –God withheld rain from the land for 3 ½ years. (James 3:17) –At God’s command, Elijah challenges the king’s prophets to come to Mt. Carmel. (19) –The people are admonished to chosen God or Baal. (21-22) –The prophets will prepare their altars and the deity which lights the altar is God. (24) –Baal does not answer. (26-28) –Elijah saturates the altar and God’s fire consumes the altar, offering and water in the trench. (36-37) –The 450 prophets of Baal are taken to the brook of Kishon and slain. (40) –Rain is restored to the land. (41-46) 8/29/20152

Elijah’s Maximum Load Limit 1 Kings 19:1-4 — And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" 8/29/20153

4 James 5:16-18 — Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain ; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

8/29/20155 Maximum Load Limit Elijah’s Discouragement Came When He Was Physically And Emotionally Exhausted.

8/29/20156 Maximum Load Limit Elijah’s Discouragement Came When He Was Physically And Emotionally Exhausted. God Lifts the Load by Attending to the Physical.

8/29/20157 Maximum Load Limit Elijah’s Discouragement Came When He Was Physically And Emotionally Exhausted. God Lifts the Load by Attending to the Physical. God Lifts the Load by Attending to the Spiritual.

God Attends to the Spiritual REMEMBERING GOD’S PAST DEEDS. EXPRESSING IN PRAYER OUR PRESENT NEEDS. 8/29/20158

9 Three Signs of Spiritual Fatigue Self-criticism. Feelings Of Foolishness And Ineffectiveness. Loneliness.

God Attends to the Spiritual REMEMBERING GOD’S PAST DEEDS. EXPRESSING IN PRAYER OUR PRESENT NEEDS. REAFFIRMING GOD’S POWERFUL PRESENCE. BELIEVING IN GOD’S PLAN. 8/29/201510

8/29/ Applications: We will not overcome discouragement by running away. We will not overcome discouragement through self pity. We will not overcome discouragement through medication. We will not overcome discouragement by alcohol.

Keys to Overcoming Discouragement: REMEMBERING GOD’S PAST DEEDS. EXPRESSING IN PRAYER OUR PRESENT NEEDS. REAFFIRMING GOD’S POWERFUL PRESENCE. BELIEVING IN GOD’S PLAN. 8/29/201512