Ravens. Really? Really. — God's Unlikely Provision in the Valley Before the Mountain

[Music] Hey friends, it's Pastor Keith, the fearless leader and founder of Journey Church. From our inception, we dreamed of being a church for people who don't like church. I know it may sound like an oxymoron, like something that doesn't make sense. We want to be a church for people who don't go to church. But from the beginning, we sought to be a church like Jesus. Constantly, Jesus hung out with people who were not like him. Yet, they liked him. Our dream has always been to see hope for everyone, not just the few, but that we would reach the people who are far from God.

[Music] God is calling us to more. More in our city, more in our day, more in our time. We are taking God at his word. In Ephesians 3:20, it says, "Now to him who is able to do more." He's able to do abundantly more. We're believing that that our city needs more faith, more hope, more love in Jesus. We're believing that more lives are going to be saved by Jesus. We're believing more marriages are going to be restored by Jesus. We're believing that God has just gotten started with Journey and with you. So, what does that mean? We are starting a two-year generosity initiative called more. We're believing that God is going to call us to more in our day and in our time. We've got a

three-fold goal. Number one, we want to strengthen our ministry. Currently, we're witnessing God do so much in different areas. We're witnessing God work through our kids, and we are over capacity. Our services are full every single Sunday. We are seeing God move within our teenagers where they're getting baptized and they're serving Jesus. We're seeing God do so much. We're in the prisons at Deer Ridge Prison and we're believing God's going to get us into every prison. But to do that, it takes money. Our current operating budget is $2.5 million. So for two years, that's $5 million we need to strengthen our ministry. Second is we want to seize ministry. God has given us the opportunity for 10,000 additional square feet in our current location that

will allow us to expand our sanctuary to get more than a 100 new seats. In addition to that, all new kids classrooms. This will help us grow our families to do more ministry with our kids and small groups throughout the week. But to do that, there's a cost. is going to be $2 million for construction costs, for city fees, and all the renovations that we need to do this ministry. Not only do we want to strengthen ministry and seize ministry, we want to secure ministry. God has been so faithful in allowing us to purchase 38 acres in the fastest growing location in Bend. We currently owe $4.6 million on our mortgage on the 38 acres. We're believing we're going to pay it off. Even more, we're believing that God's going to do great work on this property.

We're not just going to be a church in our city. We're going to be a church for our city. So, over the next two years, we're going to strengthen ministry. We're going to seize ministry. And we're going to secure our future, believing God's bless. Imagine the opportunities that are going to happen right here. So to secure our future, we need to eradicate that debt of $4.6 million over the next two years. I believe God can do it. But what we're asking is 100% participation. And I literally mean that. We want every child, teenager, and adult to be a part of more. We're asking you to pray more, to give more, to engage more, to sacrifice more, and

believe more that God is able to do this. So, would you join me, join us together to see God do more in our city, through our church? So, I'm asking you to pray. I'm asking you to seek God. What is this going to look like for us? What is this going to look like for me to sacrifice and see God work through us as a church in this more generosity initiative? [Music]

Well, Journey Church, we're believing God's best is yet to come. If we've not had the privilege to meet, my name is Keith. I'm the lead and founding pastor here at Journey Church. And last week, we launched a two-year generosity initiative called More. Everyone, shout more. More. Now, more is more than just money. We want every single soul saved in Central Oregon and beyond because everybody knows somebody that needs Jesus. Last week, we filled out impact cards and and you put the names of friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors that don't know Jesus. And we have thousands and thousands of names up here in boxes both in our our kids church and right here in this auditorium. So many of you put names down because we believe God's best over

the people that have yet to receive Jesus. And if you did not get a chance to fill out an impact card last week, it's not too late. We've got a kiosk right out in the lobby. Go visit that more kiosk and get an impact card and put down five names of people that need Jesus. In fact, on the last line, I want you to put the long shot. The long shot is the last person you least expect to believe in Jesus. And don't you know Jesus is for the least of these? He loves the long shot. So, we're going to believe that God loves every single one of your friends, your family members, your neighbors, your co-workers. You take that card once you filled out those names, bring it forward, and just put it in the box. You can do that anytime after the service, in between the services, because this is what it's about. We want to reach more people. Now, this is tangible here. We want to build kids classrooms. We want to expand this auditorium. We want to pay off the debt, only debt that we have on this

land. But just now I had to run out to the restroom before I got up here on this platform to preach to you. And I saw the longest line for kids that had to go potty. Do you know what will also be included with that? And we didn't mention this yet. Kids restrooms. Hallelujah. Every kid's teacher is excited about that. We're believing God's best in every single area. And so I'm going to tell you more about that in just a moment at the end of the service. Would you pray with me? I'm going to ask that God would speak to your heart today. Let's do this. God, I thank you so much for the opportunity that we get to be a part of your plan. You're a good God in every single way. And right now, I call upon you, the living God, and say, God, would you speak to every heart in here today? Your word is active and it's alive. And I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that it would speak to us right now as we get into your word. May it not go out void,

but by the power of the Holy Spirit, I say, say, move in this place, Lord. I know there are so many different people coming from different places, but you are a God that can meet every single one of our needs. So, I come before you in the name of Yeshua, Jesus, won't you do just that today? Oh God, you're going to do great things. I could already sense it. So, I thank you in advance for your will being done right here on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name, amen and amen. Today I want to remind you that God moves and works in the most unusual, obscure, absolutely incredible ways. We've got to remind ourselves that the way God works is often not the way that we expect him to work.

You expect God to work this way and then all of a sudden God works a different way and sometimes we're surprised or we're even let down. But this is a warning to us that God's ways are tremendously different than our own. In fact, the Lord God said himself in the book of Isaiah 55: 8 and 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my way, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now, if this is true, that God's ways are different than our ways. We must reorient our lives to his ways.

We can't just live the way that we know how to live. We can't just live the ways that that other people are living. In fact, Paul wrote to the Romans and said, "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The only way you're going to test and approve what God's will is is to transform your mind that it would actually it would it would it would orient yourself to the mind of God. And this might be radically different than you would expect because our God in the business of redemption. The ways of this world, we judge one another. We judge with what you have, what you look like, where you've been. That's not the way with God. God will take the biggest mess that you've ever made and turn it into a miracle. Yes. That's what happens when you believe in him. He will take all of that hurt in your life that you wondered why you went through what you went through. He will

heal you so that you can bring hope to others. God will use all the torment that the devil brought against you as an opportunity to trust in him. Nothing is wasted with God. And when we reorient our lives to understand his ways, we all of a sudden bring his kingdom come and his will to be done in our lives. Last week we looked at a story that Jesus told in Matthew chapter 22. Jesus often taught in parables these fictional stories to bring about a a spiritual truth. And he told us the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a wedding feast. of all the things that Jesus would relate the kingdom of heaven to. He says it's a celebration. It's full of satisfaction and joy. It's something you want to be a part of. It's

like a king throwing a wedding feast for his son. And Jesus said, "All are invited. All you have to do is accept the invitation. And when you accept the invitation, you have a seat at the table." And that's what we want for all of this region, for all of your friends and family members. We want them to know the great invitation from Jesus Christ. You have a seat at the table. You don't have to wait to experience the kingdom of heaven for someday or a better day. But you can believe today that God loves you. He wants you to experience more of who he is. He wants you to trust him. And the good news of God is that you don't have to fit into some box because God can't fit into some box. He wants to work with you right where you are. So,

wherever you are on your journey of faith right now, God wants to meet with you today. I want to talk about the power of surrender. What does that look like for your life? If you're taking notes, did you bring your journal journey guys today? If you did, wave them in the air like you don't care. Come on. I want you to take those out. If you didn't get one of those, you can pick one up before you leave today. Take notes because you will forget what God says. We all have spiritual amnesia. But I want you to write down the scriptures that God speaks to you so you can make this more than just information. This will be transformation as you apply this to your life. The title of today's sermon, if you want to put at the top of your notes, is this. Ravens. Really? Really? Just three words. Ravens. Really?

Really? You're going to understand that more in just a moment. what that means for your life because that means more than you would imagine. Today, I want you to pray bold, big, powerful prayers like the prayers of Elijah. Elijah is a man that's mentioned throughout the Bible as a as a man of great faith, a man of great prayer. And it's easy to learn lessons about a man like Elijah and to think like, oh, he was just a character in the days of old. Maybe maybe we even fantasize like he's just fiction. This is supernatural. like this is something that that's not tangible in my life. Well, in the book of James 5, he says when it comes to prayer, you ought to look at Elijah as an example of what God can do in your life. James 5:1 17- 18, James reminds us Elijah was a man with a

nature like ours. He was one of us and he prayed fervently that it might not rain and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. Elijah asked God to stop the rain and it stopped. He asked God for the rain and God gave rain. Now James says what Elijah did you can do. So many of us stop there and say I've never quite seen that. I'm not sure what that looks like. And the point of this text is to remind us that Elijah was just a normal person like you. But he believed in a supernatural, divine, absolutely incredibly awesome, glorious, great, eternal, all powerful, all- knowing God.

So all it takes is just a faith of a mustard seed to move mountains because it's not your faith that moves the mountains. It's God. It's believing in a God that can do anything. I like how the NIV puts the same verse in verse 17. Elijah was a human being even as we are. So as we look at these bold, big powerful prayers of Elijah, I want us to learn from him that God wants us to live like that in our day. Now Elijah did not live in a great time in history. He lived at a very dark time for God's people. It was a time where the the king was evil Ahab. Ahab, the Bible says, was more wicked than all of the kings before him. Ahab was the king of Israel at the time the

the the kingdoms are divided. There's the northern king of Israel and there's a southern king of Judah. And Ahab was a wicked and evil king. Now, why was he so wicked? Because he did not have a spine, a conviction, the discipline to do what God would want him to do. In fact, he was persuaded by others. That spirit is still alive today when we're persuaded by others. We're so concerned about what other people think. King Ahab was married to an even more wicked person, a wicked woman. Does anybody know her name? Jezebel. Maybe you've heard that name, Jezebel. King Ahab was married to this wicked woman named Jezebel. She was a master manipulator. She controlled through fear. Even more so, she moved people away from the one true God and she sought them to seek out

false gods, counterfeits, because that's what the devil does is he creates a counterfeit to the truth. It looks true. It looks like it will satisfy you, but it actually moves you away from God because it's void of God. The Jezebel spirit is alive today. It's found in the spirit of religion. It's found in the spirit of of of the of of psychology. It's found in the this the spirit of Eastern mysticism. We we see the spirit of Jezebel alive when it controls through manipulation through fear and religion that's void of the one true God. This is not a great time in history for God's people because God's people were actually being manipulated and moved. They they were not following the one true God. In fact, they went after

false gods. One of the greatest false gods that people worshiped at this time was the god of Baal. Many call him Baal. It's a fake god. It's a false god. It's not a divine god. It's a man-made god. And what they would do with these false gods is they would create idols out of the things of this earth so that people can see the tangible god that they're worshiping. And for the god of Baal, it would often be a bull or a ram. They would take that bull or ram, make it out of wood or out of metal or even out of clay. And you got to imagine at a time where people didn't watch entertainment in the form of screens, but rather they they they sought the arts. And if you saw something that was so lielike realistic, you'd be in awe. And then you

would tell other people, you've got to come see this God of Baal. It's beautiful. And then there would be false priests that would say, this is the God that provides for you. this is the God that blesses you. So they would bring offerings and they would they would have perversion of sexual immorality as a as a way of living their lives. All of the things God designed, they perverted and twisted. And Elijah was a prophet during this time. Now, a prophet is one that speaks forth God's word. Sometimes it was the foretelling of God's word. Here's what God's word says. Sometimes it was the the foretelling of God's word, the the foreshadowing of things to come. And they would say, "If you don't follow the Lord God, there will be consequences." Now, Elijah lived to such a time where

wickedness was was normal. It was it was the culture of his day. And and and Elijah decided to stand up for the truth, to stand up for for God and his word. And he called all of the priests of Baal to go up on the mountain to see whose god is greater. All the priests of Baal went up to Mount Carmel. And Elijah went along and all the people of Israel went to see the spectacle. Whose god is greater? I I is it the the god of Jacob or is it the god Baal? So the Israelites went up to Mount Carmel and they watched as Elijah set the rules. You make a sacrifice of a bull and call upon Baal to accept your offering.

And if he accepts your offering, it'll show that your God is greater than my God. But if he does not, then I'll call upon my God and he'll accept this as a burnt offering. And then Elijah said, "You guys go first." So all the priests of Baal started praying, praying to this this God of fertility, praying to this God that provides the rain. although there's been a drought for several years. And they prayed louder and louder. They called upon their God and nothing happened. Elijah watched this with a a grimace on his face and he decided to say something well funny. He said, "Hey, maybe you need to pray louder.

Maybe your God's on the toilet relieving himself and he can't get up and answer your prayers. This is all in the Bible. I'm in First Kings chapter 18. I'm just paraphrasing, but it's right there. So when they heard him taunting, they decided to cut themselves. They decided to harm themselves because that's what the devil does. The Lord God will never ask you to harm yourself. The spirit of suicide is from the devil. Teenagers who harm themselves by cutting themselves, it's of the devil. God is a lifegiver. He loves you. He's for you. He will never ask you to harm yourself so that he will somehow answer your prayers or that somehow you'd fit in or that somehow you'd be satisfied or relieve the pain of this world. So, so, so

nothing happens. And Elijah says, "It's my turn." and he killed the bull and they placed it on the altar. And he went even further and said, "I want you to go get four buckets of water at a time of a drought. Water is precious commodity. It would have been worth a lot. Water represents life." And he says, "Pour that water on the bowl. I'm going to show you what my God's able to do." Now, he did not just do this one time. He did it three times. Three times. Pour water. Pour water. Pour water. And as they poured water, Elijah then prays. And I need you to hear this bold, big, powerful prayer. First Kings 18:36-39. And at the time of the offering of the oblation, this is just an offering given to God. Elijah the prophet came near and

said, here's the recorded prayer. Oh Lord, the name in Hebrews, Yahweh God. The Hebrew for God is Elohim, Yahweh, Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that what I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, oh Lord. Answer me that this people may know that you, oh Lord, our God, and that you have turned their hearts back. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood

and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The Lord, he is God. The Lord Yahweh, he is Elohim." I am asking you church that you would pray more bold big powerful prayers that we would confront the evil in our age. That we would point people to the one true God. That they would turn their hearts and trust him. That God would show up when you need him most on the

mountaintop. that you too would call down fire from heaven, that God would accept the sacrifice that you bring before him. Because Elijah was just like us. He did not do anything that you can't do. I'm asking you to join me that we would pray bold, big, powerful prayers over our families, over this city, over this state, over this nation, over all the nations of the world, that they would know the one true living God. Now, what's interesting about Elijah is his very name means my God is Lord.

That's what his name means. We could break it down. The word L is short for Elohim. It just simply means God. It's the Hebrew form of the word God. It was used often throughout the Old Testament scriptures referencing the God that created Elohim. L. And then we have I which is is representation of my. And then we have jaw which is just shortened for Yahweh. The very name God gave himself. The the name is symbolic of a God that wants you to know that he can be known. You can call him by name is Yahweh. It means I am who I am. It means to be fully encompassed. There's nothing God can't do. That's what Yahweh means. In English, we translate it Lord.

It often loses its meaning. But Yahweh was so sacred that the Jews of old would not even say the name because of how sacred and holy God is. Therefore, his name should be revered. And Elijah's name means my God is Yahweh. And he puts this into practice when he prays to this God, the living true God, the God of Abraham that called Abraham to a land he's never been to before. The God of Isaac, the the provider, the God of Jacob with the one whom God changed his name to Israel when he wrestled with him. He is the God that delivers. He is the God that takes you from slavery and sets you free. He

is the God that when you come up against the sea, he'll split the sea for you. He is the God that when you come to the river that can't be crossed, he'll stop the river for you. This is my God that when you face a giant that just seems too big, all you need is a pebble and a prayer. This is my God. He is the Lord. He was the God of Elijah and he's my God today. So, how can you I'm going to teach you how can you pray bold, big, powerful prayers? Well, before Elijah was on the mountain, he was in the valley. If you want to learn to pray bold, big, powerful prayers, you can't skip the valley.

Before you head up to the mountain, you got to go through the ravine. And it's a dark, lonely journey. I want to take you there. It's it's found in First Kings chapter 17 when we're first introduced to Elijah. Who is Elijah? Well, he's first introduced in First Kings 17:1 when the writer tells us, "Now Elijah, the Tishbite of Tish in Gilead. That's all we know of Elijah." Well, we do know his name means my my God is Lord. But we don't know. Did his parents name him that? Were they so godly they believed in Elijah? Or did he change his name on his own? Or did God change his name? We don't know. Or where where were his credentials? What school did he go to? What seminary did he go to? How many degrees did he actually have? Who was his rabbi or his

mentor? We don't know. We just know he was Elijah the Tishbite, which tells me he was just the man. I don't know where you came from, but just go ahead and put the place you're from. That's all you have to do is be a willing servant of God. Now Elijah the Tishbite of Tish in Gilead said to Ahab, this is wicked, evil Ahab. He said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither due nor rain these years except by my word." Now, we don't know much about Elijah, but we know he's bold. God will use those willing to be used. You don't have to have the right background or pedigrees. You don't have to look the right way. You don't have to be born from the right family. You just

have to be a willing open empty vessel to be filled by God to do the works of God. Now when it came to Ahab, he tells him the Lord Yahweh, he is the Lord God. He is the one that starts the rain and stops the rain. Now this is very intentional because Baal is the God of the rain. People worship Baal to to get the provision, to get the rain. And Elijah intentionally says, "The very thing you think is the provider is not the provider, but it's Jehovah Gyra, the Lord that's the provider." You see, we do the same things today. We we seek out the false gods of this world to satisfy us. Oh, this is in every

single area, emotionally, relationally, sexually, in every single area. We seek all of these areas to satisfy us. Yet there's only one that will truly satisfy, the Lord God. And and Elijah came to display that what you've been seeking can only be found in the very God that creates the rain. And Baal is not the God of the rain. After preaching this cutting message to Ahab, which by the way, he does not repent or give his life to the Lord. Verse two tells us, "And the word of the Lord came to him." The word of the Lord came to Elijah. Today the word of the Lord has come to you. What will you do with the word of the Lord? Jesus warns us that the word of the Lord is like a

seed that goes into soil. Your heart is a representation of the soil. I cannot make you believe in the Lord God. You have to have an open and willing heart. Some soil is so hard you refuse to receive the word of God. Some soil has weeds in it which represents the worries of this world. So you cannot receive the fullness of what God wants to give you. Some soils snatched by Satan, God will not allow you to hear or the Satan will not allow you to hear God's word because he'll snatch it before it takes root. But some soil will fall on good some seed will fall on good soil. Are you tracking with me? If your heart is open, God wants his word like a seed to go into your heart like soil and and to take root and to bear much fruit. The word of the Lord

came to Elijah. What did God say to Elijah? Verse three, depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook of Kth, which is east of the Jordan, some 17 miles from where he is. Go to the brook Kth. The word Kth is a Hebrew word that just means cutting. It's a representation of where he's going. It's a brook that has cut this ravine. There's cliffs on both sides. Much like the city of Bend is just creatively named for a bend in the river because the city was created around a bend in the river. So, he's to go to the cutting. He's to go to the ravine that's been cut out by a brook over time. And then God tells him in verse four, "You shall drink from the brook." So, during a drought, you're going to have water.

Water represents life. Water represents the living God. Jesus says that when you believe in him, out of your heart will flow living water. It's a representation of God's living word that when you trust God, you get life. And God says, "I'm taking you to the cutting place and there you're going to drink from the brook. You're going to get water provided and I've commanded the Ravens to feed you there." Everyone say, "Ravens." The Ravens, not the football team. These are the big ugly black birds. Not to be mistaken with the crow. They're twice the size of a crow. The ravens. The ravens.

I've commanded. God says, God says, I have commanded. Your provision is because I have provided it for you. And it's through what? Shout it out. The ravens. They're going to feed you there. So Elijah says in verse 5, he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Elijah went and lived by the brook Kth that is east of the Jordan. And look at verse six. And the ravens brought him bread and meat. What's bread and meat called? A sandwich. He got a breakfast sandwich in the morning. And bread and meat, what's that called? A sandwich in the evening. And he drank from the brook. Our God is consistent. He wants you to be consistent. Some of you are not where you could be with the Lord because of your inconsistency.

God says, "I'm going to provide a raven to do for you what you don't need to do on your own." Now, let me just explain this here. God sent him to this ravine. It was a a valley with cliffs on either side. Now, he was not to leave this this this this place called Kth the cutting because do you think Ahab was happy with this message that Elijah just gave him? This was a place of protection as he just shared a very obscure message to King Ahab. Now he lives in obscurity. He lives in isolation. Not because God is mean and is trying to punish him. He's actually protecting him. May I just encourage you today that your place of obscurity and isolation might be a protection. You don't know it now, but God might be protecting you from something way worse that you don't even know about.

You might be in a place of isolation or maybe you were in a place of isolation because God was doing a work that he's protecting you and getting you ready for something greater to come. He's in this ravine. It's a dark valley. When you're down in the ravine, it's a dark place. When the sun goes over just after noon, at some point it's going to set and it's going to be shady before everything else is shady. It can be a dark, lonely place. The devil loves to use the place of isolation against God. A dark place. A lonely place. But this place is not to be wasted. God wants to use this very place. And in fact, this was during a drought.

King David writes in Psalm 23 referencing his God as the shepherd. He says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though I'm in the valley right now, even though I'm in the ravine right now, even though I'm in the cutting the carth right now, even though I'm in the place of obscurity right now, I will fear no evil. for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. At some point in each of our lives, we'll end up in the place maybe we don't want to be the valley of the shadow of death. We'll end up in the ravine. We'll end up in the car of this world and somehow the enemy will tell you that

by giving your relationship to God, you're you're giving up something that you really want in this world. May I just say it's the lie of the devil that says somehow that if you fully surrendered your life to the Lord, you're giving up something. That's not true. The devil is a liar. What do you give up when you surrender everything to Jesus? Oh, regret, remorse, shame, fear, hangovers. Did I hear that from somebody? Yeah, you will have to give up some things when you surrender your life to Jesus. and you will end up in the place that maybe you don't want to be. But God's not going to leave you there. He's actually getting you ready for something greater. He's trying to teach you a lesson right where you are. Nothing is wasted with God when you take him at his word. When you learn that this cutting is actually going to create something greater in you. He's cutting off that which shouldn't be in you. He's cutting

off that which is holding you back. He's asking you to trust in him that he's going to provide for you the water. He's going to provide for you food. He's going to give you everything you need. And how are you going to be provided for? Shout it out. What's going to feed you? Ravens. Yeah. Nobody's excited about that part. Ravens. You know, we know a lot about ravens. In fact, in Greek mythology and so many different other places, ravens, they they represent death. And in fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, this is in God's law. Ravens are included as unclean animals. meaning don't touch them, don't eat them. Why would God include them as unclean animals? That's because ravens are scavengers.

Do you know what a scavenger means? They go after dead things. They don't eat living things like an eagle would come down and take something that's alive, like a fish or a snake. Ravens go after roadkill. I live out by the landfill and sometimes there's crows, which is a cousin to the raven, and they they just circle around the dump. They're not looking for living fruit. They're looking for dead things. Ravens will travel 30, 40 miles just to find something that's already dead. And they have these beaks that open up. What do they open up? Carcasses. They start when there's something dead, they start with the eyes. That's what the devil does is he gets rid of your vision first.

He wants to get rid of you. Starts up here and then works his way down. And oh, they're not the they're not the greatest animal. And by the way, this is who's going to be bringing you your food. He would be eating literally roadkill. Now, why would God do such a thing? I'll tell you because his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. If God commands it, he's going to use it. It's going to be good. He's a good God. You just might not see it right now. He's going to use the unclean. Something unusual, unpopular that nobody would have imagined. Yep. That's what my God's going to use. Come on, somebody. He

might just use you. He might use that long shot that you put down and thought who how in the world God's going to do. He's looking at that person say that's a raven I'm going to use. They might look like they're overlooked. They might look like they're unclean. But I'm going to show the world what I'm able to do. This will be a prophetic picture down the road of what God's able to do to save a gentile like me. You don't have to be born into the right family to be used by God. God will work it out. God will use whatever he wants to use. But you've got to be willing. He sent some ravens. Somebody say ravens. Ravens. Listen, my friends. If you have your life figured out, you're not living by faith. Faith works this way. I need you, God, to show up. And then when God shows up, you say, "Ravens, that's when you have faith. Are you tracking with me here?" You didn't think

God would use that in your life. Just this week, this is a true story. My son comes into the kitchen. He's 17 years old. And he goes to the coffee pot. That's how he starts every morning at the coffee pot. And he goes to the coffee pot. My wife is doing devotions at the table. And my my youngest daughter's in the kitchen as well. And I'm there as well. We're fighting for the coffee. And my son says, "Man, I had the weirdest dream last night." Now, when I hear the weirdest dream, I'm thinking like, "This is going to be weird." Like maybe an octopus with 12 legs instead of eight. Or, you know, 15 eyes. He's bright green. or what was what was your weird dream? And here's what my son says. I had the weirdest dream that I went to school and we were so poor that I got the free meal at lunch.

And I just without even thinking, my immediate response was that was my whole childhood. Then my youngest daughter's over here like sympathized. Oh, daddy, I'm so sorry. Like what's the big deal? The government gave us free cheese. The schools gave me free lunch. And truth is, at the time I was embarrassed by it. When when I was a kid, listen, they didn't give you like a debit card looking thing. I mean, we actually had food stamps. Everybody in the grocery store knew you were poor. Today, you could fake it like you make it. Like, no, this is just my credit card. When I was a kid, how many food stamps I need for this meal? But I will tell you this.

I may have grown up not with the best meal, but it made me a better person. I may have gotten what I didn't want, but it made me a more grateful person now. I tell you what drove me as a kid. I always said, I don't want to be like this when I grow up. That was my motivation because I didn't have Jesus. Then once I had Jesus, I realized I have a good God that's for me. As Jeremiah told God's people, it's a good plan. He gives you hope for your future. I always look forward to what God's going to do because he could do more than I can imagine. You got to believe that when you pray to a God that's God, you're you're not God. So when you pray, he can creatively give you an answer to your prayer that you couldn't even imagine. I need provision. Oh, I'm not sure about ravens, Lord. And the Lord's saying, I just want to teach you a lesson.

I want to show you about greater things to come. I want to show you that when you pray, I'm the God that answers. I want to show you that maybe if you would have got what you wanted, you wouldn't have trusted me in the same way. God develops our faith when we trust him. Even in the valley, even when he gives us what we don't want, but we recognize every single thing I have, including every breath, is from God. Someone needs to see today that God's provision will come when you surrender to him, when you go after God. Because if I go after the things of this world, I'm going to end up in the place that God doesn't want me to be. I'm not going to end up in a good place. Those are false gods. Those false gods eventually led to a drought. Do not be mistaken.

There are droughts that have nothing to do with water. There are spiritual droughts, financial droughts, emotional droughts. There's relational droughts and at some season you're going to get in a drought and maybe this drought was caused not even by something you've done but something someone else has done too. Unless we make this mistake today, the evil and unclean spirits are alive today. We've got to recognize the lying spirit of Jezebel is all over. Just go to Barnes & Noble. Just go to the fair and you'll see some booth that will entice you to get your palm read. Just look to the horoscopes that will give you some insight for your life. That's these are lies. I'm I'm talking about crystals that somehow you can you can focus on these things other than the one true God or any type of Eastern

mysticism that just slips in as innocent. If if they did it somewhere else, I'm going to bring in my life. May I just say we want to test everything by the word of God because there's a meditation that's not of God and there's a meditation that is of God. There there's a truth that is of God and then there's a truth lowercase t that's not of God. And we've got to be willing to test those spirits to see what's of God. Because if not, we go after the things of this world to satisfy. One particular place that hits a nerve every single time I bring it up in our region is marijuana. that somehow I'm just making this personal towards the person that's smoking this or eating this or or whatever form of cannabis they think is going to help them or to relax them or to in any other way. Listen, I I'm not preaching against marijuana. I'm preaching against false gods.

It's the same thing that's true with with the Star Strip Club. It's the same thing that's true with any pornography y'all are looking at on your screens. It's a false god that's getting you and enticing you to somehow numb your life to be satisfied by the things of this world. It's the same problem that we read about in the life of Elijah. I'm not calling out the thing in your life. I'm calling out the false god in your life. And I'm calling you to trust in the one true God that he is greater than anything you're going through in your life. any drought that you find yourself in, you're not to call on the false gods to give you what you need. And it's some place I I need hear this out. Holy Spirit, help me.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God does not whip you into shape. He welcomes you. God does not guilt trip you. He does not shame you. So friend, I'm not shaming you for anything you're doing in your life. I got my own issues. I want to repent and run to the father. So whether it's tarot cards or or whether it's it's some other place that you're seeking some false god in your life, I'm saying we've got to reject that today. We've got to not tap into the ways of this world. The wisdom of Proverbs says it this way. There's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. And Elijah was speaking up in a generation so that we would understand that there's a way that seems right but it's not right. But the way that is

right is to surrender yourself unto the Lord to trust fully in a true and living God. I would like to go further with this today, but we just don't have time. So what I'm going to do is we're going to continue this next week. All right? Because there is so much more. If you want to read in advance, we're in First Kings chapter 17. Because if you want to pray the bold prayers in First Kings 18, first you got to go through First Kings 17. Some of you might be there right now. Some of you might be coming out of it right now. Let me just read one more verse and then I want to give some instructions about where we are right now. First Kings 17:7. This will be our last verse today. After a while, would you just say after a while? After a while, come on. Wherever you are right now, it's not going to last forever.

After a while, this season's going to be over. I know it feels like forever right now. Some of you are saying, "Listen, this has lasted for years." Well, you know, the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. If it's not 40 years, you should at least thank God that it's not 40 years. After a while, the brook dried up. Now, why did the brook dry up? The drought. Did Elijah do anything to cause the drought? No, but because of someone else's problems, now he has problems. Don't you ever listen to the lie of the enemy that if you follow Jesus, it will be easy. I'm here to say it won't be easy. You will be persecuted and the brooks will dry up. But don't worry, you've got God on your side. He's going to provide. Where you couldn't see away, he's going to provide for you just like he did with the what again? The ravens.

After a while, the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. The way God did provide may not be the way he will provide. So if God provided ravens when you were young is more than likely probably not going to be ravens later. If if he provided ravens for you in that long season you were in Kth the cutting, it probably won't be ravens again because my God works in the most unusual, obscure, incredibly awesome ways. so that at just the right time, you could pray bold, big, powerful prayers. I'm believing that for you. Elijah was just a man. He was just like you so that you would trust in the same God. So that we would say, "God, these

aren't just names. These aren't just stories. These are real people that need a real God. And you're a God that really meets with us. And you rarely do it the way that I want you to do it. You shake things up. You turn things around. You'll do it through the crucifixion. and you you'll do it through the resurrection. That's who you are, God. And wherever you are in your journey of faith today, that God is available to you. In just a moment, I'm going to give you a great invitation so that you would put your faith in him because all it takes is to believe. That's it. God doesn't say, "Go get your life right and then follow me." He says, "Just believe." And the day you believe, you're saved. You're forgiven of your sins. You receive the gift of eternal life. God allows you access to himself through the person of the Holy Spirit. Now you have the power of the Holy Spirit. Now you live with God. You walk with God.

Doesn't mean you have it figured out, but now you live by faith, not by sight. You live by faith. I want to give you that invitation in just a moment. But before we we we go today, I want to just share with you more about what this generosity initiative is all about. We're asking for 100% participation. My wife and I are participating. Our kids are participating. We're taking this serious and I'm asking you to take this serious as well to pray what is your role and as you leave today you're going to get a card just like this. It's called a commitment card. Inside this commitment card is just to help to say what does this look like financially for me to be involved in this? Now here's what I'm asking of you today. Do not fill this out. You're not going to turn this in today. You're not even going to fill this out today. All you're going to do is you're going to take this and you're going to pray over this. You're not even

going to fill this out next week and bring it back next week. This is for in a few weeks, but I want you to be praying about it now. So that you could be asking God, "What's my role?" and more. Because if you start praying now, I'll tell you, God will never leave you where you are. He will always grow in you where he wants to take you. So here's what's on this card. You'll you'll see on this card there there's several boxes to fill out. And I'm going to walk you through the boxes just really briefly so that you would have a better understand when you get this. The first box is what I normally would give in a year. All you got to do is look at your normal giving in a year to Journey Church and that's what you're going to add up what you normally give in a year. The second box is how am I going to expand my generosity this year? God, where do you want me to grow in my faith that I'm going to give more than what I normally give? And then you're going to add those two up in the third box. Now, let me just go to a giving ladder real quick so

that you understand how much you give in a year. I know that seems like an obvious question, but some of you be like, I don't know how much I give in a year. So, let me just go through a giving ladder uh with you. Here's what it looks like. on the very bottom of a rung on the very bottom are the first time givers. That means you never give to God. You never give to the church. So if you're wondering how much do I give in a year, you put zero. That's pretty easy, right? Easy math here. So if you're new to Journey Church, you're visiting for the first time or you're you're here at Journey Church for the first time ever and you're like, "Oh, great. Is this church all about money?" Nope. We don't want your money. We don't even take an offering or a bag or a basket or anything like that. We don't want your money. In fact, this is really easy math. How much have you given to Journey Church? Zero. But if you want to be a part of Journey Church, you want to join us on this mission and God is stirring

in your hearts. And the second box is where you're going to put that amount. God, how much do you want me to give? That means you're going to give for the first time. Some of you have never given to church before. This is going to be a huge step of faith to get that first foot on the ladder. Now, some of you have given to to church before. That's the second rung on the ladder. You just give periodically. You're the ones privately, I call you tippers. Uh you you give just when it seems convenient. God moves on your heart. Something happened during a service and you give $25 here, $100 here, $10 there. And it's not there's no order to this. It's not once a month. It's not every pay period. It's just I give when God moves me to give. You're on the second rung. You're giving periodically. What you want to do is just you don't you don't need to worry about the exact numbers. You just look how much do I normally give in a year? I don't know, $200. I'm going to put $200. how much you give. Well, how much is God stretching you to expand

that? That's going to be in the second box. Here's the third uh strong on the ladder. You're consistently giving. So, maybe you're giving once a month. You're giving the same amount. Maybe you do the autopay. We have that on our website where it's just automatically taken out. You're you're doing a $100 a month or $1,000 a month or $1,500 a month. It comes out of your account, but you don't even see it and it doesn't even hurt. You're not writing a check. You're not dipping it in the basket, but you're you're giving an amount. And this is the amount you you you give every year. Maybe you increase it as your income increases, but you're consistently giving. And what you want to do is ask God, "How do you want me to expand this? Where am I going to trust in you?" Finally, on the fourth rung up, you've got the intentional giver that you you've been going to church a long time, your tithing, which is 10% of your income. It's a biblical principle because when you trust God with 10%, he could do exceedingly more with your 90% than you can with a 100. See, what you

sow is what you're going to reap. So, the more you trust God with your finances, the more God trusts you. Now, the intentional giver says, "I've been giving 10%." And so, you're going to easily take the math. How much you've been given in a year, the 10%, you're going to put that amount there. The second line, you're going to say, "God, how much do you want me to expand this?" Maybe you want me to do 15%. Maybe it's not an amount. Maybe there's a a gift that just comes to mind. It's a h 100,000. You got this stock that needs to be be used. Or maybe it's a a boat that doesn't even get used. But on on that intentional giver, you're saying, "God, how do you want to stretch me further?" And then finally on the last rung up, it's the surrendered giver. The surrendered giver looks something like this. Everything I have is yours, Lord. What do you want to do? What do you want to do, God? I've been tithing. I've been giving generously, but God, seriously, I know I'm going to die. I'm not taking a penny with me. Go,

God, go. Use whatever you want for your glory. Now, now to go back to the card for just a moment. Once you've added those up, you're going to times it by two because this is a two-year generosity initiative. That will help you because once you divide it by 24, it won't feel as bad. And then there's a box for stored resources. Stored resources are the areas of your life, which by the way, can we just say we're so blessed in this country we live in. Y'all should come with me to Uganda. Uh you should go on your own uh cross-cultural experience to realize that what we think is suffering isn't quite suffering. They get your coffee wrong at Starbucks. That's not suffering. All right, y'all. We often think suffering is when we have to wait in line up at Mount Bachelor to get on a ski lift or whatever your suffering is

in your life. Here's what stored resources are. Stored resource saying, "God, what areas do I have in my life that can be liquidated to give to you?" And we got a camping trailer that's worth $40,000 and we use it twice a year. God, is that a good use of your You want me to use that? And some of you like, Keith, you're stepping on my toes now. I I don't know what it is for you. It's it's it's it could be stocks. Some of you, you get paid in stocks at your company. We can take your stocks and we can actually we can do a transaction with your stocks immediately. It's not something that takes days or even weeks. You can go onto our website right now and give stocks or even give crypto. So, that might be a stored resource for you. So, what does that look like? Now, the reason I'm asking you not to fill this out today is I need you to pray about it. We are not asking for equal amounts from every person. We're not asking for equal amounts. If we did, that that would be hard because some of you wouldn't be able to do the equal amounts. Some of

you are able to give way less. That's okay. What does it look like for you to trust God? This is not going to be manipulation. You're going to hear much more about this in the weeks to come. But I'm believing God's going to stretch us and he's going to show up in your family unlike anything you've seen before. We're already hearing stories of that. People that didn't even give yet, but said, "God, I'm so sorry that I haven't been tithing. I'm going to start." heart and then the next day they have money in their bank account. Come on, somebody. This is not a lottery or a Santa. God doesn't work like that. He's a God that meets every one of your needs. And sometimes he'll use what again? Ravens. Really? Really? But what we're going to do is we're going to trust God. So we need to call on him. We know he's going to answer, which by the way, he will answer. So when you leave, please take one of these. Do not fill it out.

Please take it and pray about it. Put it in your Bible. When you read your Bible, pray about it. Put it at your your desk. Put it on your refrigerator. I don't care what you do with it. But pray over this. Seriously, pray over this. If you didn't get a frequently asked questions booklet and you would like one, we want to make sure that we're just in full transparency and in unity about where we're going. I'm believing God's best over you. Before we leave today, we're going to sing one last song and I'm going to invite the band up here right now. But I want to ask you the most personal question, really the most important question I could ask you today. And this is for every single person here. Have you trusted in Jesus? Do you believe in him? A a preacher cannot manipulate you to do this. A parent can't do it for you. No other person can do it. This is between you and the Lord. And let me just

explain this just briefly. And I want to do this in the simplest form I can because the Bible says once you believe, you're saved. What does that mean to be saved? It means you're set free from all your sins. You are forgiven. Set free from all your sins. Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive you of all your sins. God became a man and died on the cross. He did what no other man has done before. He lived a perfect sinless life so that you can trust in him. You don't have to earn your salvation. You don't be have to be good enough to be saved. You just have to believe in the one that died for you. Now, you get more than just the forgiveness of your sins. You get the gift of eternal life. Some of you have the fear of death. Some of you are uncertain what happens when you die. That's because God put it in your heart to think about this. You have

a soul that's eternal. And when you believe in Jesus, you're given the free gift of eternal life. I I want you to receive that today because now you have hope. You have a reason to live and his name is Jesus. I just want to ask you if you just close your eyes, every person here, this is between you and the Lord. If you want to receive Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life, to save you from your sins and be your savior, to be the one you can call upon whenever you need to pray, talking to God, if you want to receive that and the seriousness of all the eyes closes between you and the Lord, raise your hand nice and high and say, "That's me. I I want to receive this today. Praise God. Praise God. Yes. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Yes. Praise God.

Praise God." All over the place. It's never too late. You're releasing all the things that you've sought after in this world that don't satisfy. You're going to the one God that does satisfy you all over the place. Praise God. Just keep your hands up for a moment. Could you could you just look at me? Those with your hands uh up and those everyone else keep your eyes closed. I'm so proud of you. So proud of you. So proud of you. Yes. So proud of the two of you right there. Praise God. So proud of you. Praise God. Yes. God is so proud of you. you and I'm proud of you. Praise God. I'm so proud of you. You could put your hands down all over the place. I'm just going to ask that we'd all pray together. We're going to do this out loud. If you've ever believed in Jesus, we're going to do it with those doing it for the first time. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. It starts now, but it

doesn't stop. Keep praying wherever you go. Pray this out loud. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sins. I receive the Holy Spirit. I receive eternal life. I receive eternal life. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Can we celebrate the Lord today? He's a God that's for us. Praise God.