Teshuva- Seasons Of Repentance (Part 2) - Beth Mills

The season of repentance is about actively turning away from evil and turning towards God. While we choose to walk in repentance every day, there are times to celebrate and observe corporately. This time is about more than just choosing obedience, but about turning to God to restore relationship with Him.

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​Well, it's really good to see all of you guys again here today. I'm looking forward to talking about this season of teshuva. I don't know about you. But even over the last week, after digging in for teaching, last week, the Lord began to even reveal more things to me over this week, which is pretty exciting. And I love when he does that. I mean, I'll just be out for a run. That's the most common time I don't know about for you when you receive word from the Lord when you hear him the best. But for me, it's often when I'm out for a run, I'm just, it's just me and the Lord. And I'm not gasping for breath. I'm just enjoying myself. I get some great downloads during that time. So I'm looking forward to sharing some more of the things that he showed me this week, as rod said, that we're walking through this season of teshuva, which means turning or returning. And another word for that is also restoring. So if you think of those three terms, turning to God, returning to God, and restoring so there's an idea of restoring relationship, and restoring what has been lost. And that's what this season is, it runs for 40 days, and it is in the last month of the Hebrew year, the last month of the Hebrew year is called Elul. And so that's a 30 days. And then there are the 10 high holy days of the next month. And during those 10 High Holy Days, those are the days of all the days of introspection, and they culminate with Yom Kippur, which is a day of national repentance and forgiveness. So once again, we get that turning and returning to God, and the restoration that comes from that restoration, whether it's personal or restoration of the relationship with God nationally. Traditionally, it's believed that Moses ascended Mount Sinai for a second time to seek God's forgiveness for Israel sin of idolatry with that golden calf that we talked about, he had already been on Mount Sinai in the midst of 40 days, with the Lord receiving the covenant, and then Israel sinned, by forgetting about all of the things that they had been through, and believing that Moses had abandoned them, and that God had taken him. And then they created their own God saying that this golden calf is the one who brought them out of from slavery in Egypt. And that was this golden calf that was providing for them in the wilderness. And so Moses went up on the mountain a second 40 days to then receive the covenant once again, to restore relationship, and to get atonement for Israel's sin. I'd kind of like to go over that. That piece in Exodus. If you have your Bibles, you can open to Exodus 32 starts in verse one. It says, Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, then the people gathered together to Aaron, and they said to him, Come, make us Gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So they just think he's gone. Skipping to verse six says, Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. This is what they did. This was their sin of idolatry. They sat down to eat and drink, rose up to play. All of this is that sin of idolatry and this playfulness is a lot of stuff that we don't do in our love feasts. Okay. This was what they had learned and seen in Egypt. This is what they had learned and seen in the different places all around, that the Lord had told them to conquer that land, and yet they were embracing the ways of the peoples around them. And then that's when Moses As he returned to the people, and he saw the calf and all of the idol worship going on. So he goes up on the mountain this second time in Exodus 34. Starting verse five. Now the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. We talked last time about the name of the Lord. It's not just what we call him. He didn't just introduce himself say Hi, my name is right. His name carries every bit of his character. When he proclaims His name he is proclaiming who he is to Moses. In these moments, he is allowing all of his character, all of his goodness, all of his kindness to pass before Moses in this time, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for 1000s, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. God revealed himself in those words, God revealed his character. He is merciful. He is gracious, he is long suffering, that's more than just being patient is being patient, and taking pain in the midst of it, suffering through the waiting, abounding in goodness, which we said was has said, that faithful love and kindness of God, abounding in truth. He keeps mercy for 1000s, and he forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. He's just, he is merciful. And he is just he doesn't let people get away with things. Right? We receive the mercy of God, but there are consequences to sin. And when something has been done unjustly against us, personally against our family, against our nation, he punishes that that has happened to us. He doesn't let people get away with things and allow them to just keep getting away with it and keep getting away with it and keep getting with it. He is just it's important that we know and understand who God is. It's important that we know this, because there are a lot of people who are teaching that God is so kind that He will overlook all sin. And that's called false grace, that it doesn't matter what we do God or Jesus already died on the cross, and therefore we are covered. We're forgiven. So no matter what I do, from now on, it is forgiven. Yes, true. But there is the element of repentance. God has a part. He forgives, we have a part, we repent, we turn away from the sin. We don't just continue in this and because when we continue in this in, we're just crucifying Jesus again and again and again and again. And that's not the life that he's called us to. And all the things that we see happening in the world today. God isn't just looking and saying, Well, I forgive you. Well, I'm merciful. Well, I forgive you. Yes, he's giving space for repentance. He's giving time for the sin to ripen, and giving space for repentance. That's his mercy. I mean, today we're celebrating, not celebrating, but remembering. September 11. Everyone in our nation was changed on that day. We are remembering what happened to our nation. And I don't know if you guys remember, but there was a great wave of people who turned their eyes to God 21 years ago, and cried out to Him for mercy. And look where we are 21 years later. We are in a space for repentance, and we need repentance now, even more than 21 years ago. Because yes, there was some relief. But we need so much more of following after God. We need so many more people whose eyes are turned to him. We need so many more leaders who are walking in his ways and walking in integrity. We've had space for repentance. In God is merciful. And God is just Continuing on in Exodus 34. It says in verse eight, so Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Then he said, If now I have found grace in your sight, oh, Lord, lead My Lord, I pray go among us, even though we are a stiff necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance. He is interceding for the nation of Israel. He's asking for pardon for this sin of the entire nation. Not every single person sinned. We know that Moses was. Moses was with the Lord Joshua was very near waiting. There were probably some other people who didn't partake, but the entire nation had sinned. And Moses was interceding for the entire nation. Just prior to this conversation, God had said, I'm not going with you, I'll send an Angel with you. But I'm not going with you. You're a stiff neck people. You're stubborn. But Moses was only going to hold on to the God's promise that he was going to lead us not only lead them not only out of Egypt, and out of slavery, but he would lead them into that land that had been promised so many years ago to his father's his forefathers. And he held on to that. So that relationship was restored between Israel and God. Because Moses interceded for his nation. What can be done for our nation? If one man could intercede for the nation of Israel, and the nation was restored, what can be done for our nation? If all of us, intercede for our nation and ask God's forgiveness, and ask and cry out for his mercy? And continue to walk in his ways? What could we see we could see an entire nation turn around, we could see the revival that we longed for in our nation. As we stand and cry out for our nation, God forgive us, God forgive your church, for running after other things beyond what you have taught us to run after running after you relationship with you, running after the shiny thing, and running away from the depth of relationship with you. What could happen in our nation? So according to Jewish tradition, the month of Elul plus the 10 more days is when Moses turned to God. And he obtained that forgiveness for his nation during this time, I mean, we don't hear it here in the US, but I'm sure if we lived in Israel, we would hear it or if we lived near Jewish Tabernacles. In places we probably would hear this, because during this time, the shofar is blown every single day in order to awaken the soul. That's what this time is for corporately. I think it's interesting. You've we've heard this phrase several times over the last couple of weeks, about the soul of our nation. God is blowing the shofar to awaken our souls, to awaken his people. And the shofar is literally blown every day in order to awaken the soul. So are we hearing that? are we hearing that call? are we hearing that alarm from the Lord to awaken and to arise? As we talked, last week, we talked about the root word of Teshuva is schueth, which means to turn it means to turn away or turn toward or to turn around. So we're in some senses, we're turning away from sin, or turning away from the world turning away from our own ways. We're turning toward God turning toward his ways, turning our lives around, turning our hearts around. That's all of the things that it means. The Lord says in Zechariah one, verse three, return to me, and I will return to you. So in this season of turning, we turn to the Lord and the Lord even turns more toward us. There are some scriptures that say cause your face to shine on us. That means look our way God, look our way. And that's what we're crying out for. As we turn to Him, we're saying, Lord, look this way. Here I am, to speak with you to meet with you. Turn my way, and speak to me as well. Now a lot of people might be thinking to themselves, well, I've already repented. I've already turned away from sin. I've already turned my life over to God, I gave my life to Jesus back in whatever year it was, for me, 1986 I already gave my life to Jesus. And in 1986, I repented of my sin, I turned away from sin, and I turned toward God, and I began my journey with him at that time. But this repentance is not a one and done kind of thing. We walk in a lifestyle of repentance. And, you know, like Jerry had pointed out last week, the hope is that in this season of turning, we learn the turning again and again every single day, that this becomes a lifestyle that we turn our lives to God every day that when we wake up in the morning, the first thing out is to say, Lord, I love you or good morning, Lord, I set my heart to follow you today. That's part of the tourney. Right. But in Ecclesiastes, chapter three, verse one, it says to everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. There are seasons, where we turn, there are seasons in our life, where we either memorialize, or we celebrate different things that have happened. So think about the Christmas season. When we're celebrating the Christmas season, of course, we're celebrating and remembering when Jesus came to earth, right when he was born as a baby. And so many people, when you read when you read the books, and you hear the music, and you watch the movies, it's a season of giving. It's a season of joy. It's a season of charity. Right? And so everyone corporately, is remembering all the things that Jesus came to give. Of course, in the hopes that we'll walk in that every single day, we would want to be givers every single day, we would want to carry that joy that comes in the Christmas season, every single day. Right? There's the Easter season, where we remember his death upon the cross where we remember our sin that put him there. And where we remember that he rose again, and he lives forever interceding for us. It's a season that we take to do that. So this season, is teshuva. We can do this corporately, as we, as we do this time together. We are proclaiming to the world, what the Lord has done. And we are proclaiming to the world, His goodness, and the ability for us to return and be in relationship with Him and for that restoration of the relationship to be there. I think is interesting because you guys probably I don't know if you heard it in your head. When I read that scripture TO EVERYTHING there is a season, I immediately go turn, turn, turn right. And a time for every purpose under heaven, right. So I've looked up that song called Turn, turn, turn. And it's very interesting to me that those are the only words that that guy put to the Scripture, they actually sing the Scripture. And after each one of those sections there, they just add, turn, turn, turn. Now it's the birds. And I thought it was interesting in this season of Teshuva that those are the words Turn, turn, turn. Isn't that interesting? This is the cry of the Lord's heart, turn, turn, turn from your ways, return to mine return to my heart. might also think Well, why do we need to do this seasonally? If I'm going to do this every day, then why do I need to do it seasonally? Well, have you ever been sitting in a room reading and it's in the afternoon and you're so engrossed in the book that it starts getting darker and darker and darker outside and it's darker and darker and darker in the room, but you don't really realize it. And if you're reading on your Kindle, you really don't realize this, because your book is just getting brighter and brighter before you write. But pretty soon you look around and the whole room has gotten dark without you even realizing it. That is much like what this is like, we can go through our lives. And we can ask the Lord to show us things. But if we're not taking a season, to really take the time and be introspective and ask the Lord to do the searching, he is the one who brings the light into our heart, we may not even realized that our heart is growing a little bit darker, a little bit darker, not even realizing things creep in. And we don't realize how things creep in. Unless we take some time seasonally to get up and turn on the light so that we can see what's going on. That's what this season is like. It's also like doing an Azmuth check, which is basically you've got a fixed point that you're headed toward. And you set an Azmuth according if you're sailing according to the stars, you set an Azmuth that is on the stars and that fixed point that you are sailing toward. And then you've got this straight line that you are headed down. And that is your course that you're going to take. But then you have to keep doing your Azmuth checks because you're moving on the water, and the stars are moving. But the fixed point is still there. And you need to make sure that you are on course. And you have to do that you have to take that check every once in a while. So as we do this seasonally, you can just do a heart check God, there are fixed points that you have for me, there are fixed points that I have made a dedication to you, of where we want to be how I want to be. How am I doing? Am I reaching it? Am I still on course. Because what many people are beginning to do is there's a fixed point that the Lord has given to us. And there are many people who are saying, well, you know what, that's a little outdated. Because we're headed off, we're headed off course, we're five degrees, going a little bit off of where we really should be headed. And so instead of adjusting course back to the Azmuth that we were on, we say, well, you know what, that fixed point really isn't fixed. Or that fixed point really doesn't matter anymore. It's kind of an ancient way. And we make a new fixed point. And then we feel better. Because we think we're on course, we're not on course. And we can get farther and farther and farther, because we're moving the fixed point. Rather than getting back on when we do the Azmuth track. It's worth it. So during this season, some of the questions that we can be asking ourselves is, where are we headed? What are the fixed points that the Lord has given to us? And are we still on course? Where is your family headed? What are the purposes that the Lord has revealed to you? Are you still on course? Are there places where your family needs to make course adjustment, we used to do this as a family. We have a family covenant that's on the wall that helps provide provide the fixed points for us. And we can take a look at that. And every once awhile as a family, we would discuss it. How are we doing on this? How can we make this point in the covenant? How can we make sure that we are headed toward it, and we don't get distracted all along the way. Because there's a lot of shiny stuff that can come and take our take our attention, good stuff. But it might not necessarily be God's direction for our family. And so it's good to take time and do that Asmath check and make sure that we're still on course. During this time of teshuva, it's a time to remember God's covenant. It's a time to repent, for those areas that we're not walking in that covenant. It's that time to turn away from sin and turn toward God. Where we can intercede for our families and for our nation and ask forgiveness like Moses did. And like Jesus continues to do for us. He's at the right hand of the father ever interceding for us. And it's that time to remember who God is. Remember, he's abounding in goodness you That's how he describes himself as much as everybody else describing him. That's who he says he is. I am super abundant in goodness, super abundant in kindness, super abundant in love. And he delights in showing that loving kindness and mercy toward us. In Micah, chapter seven, verse 18, it says, Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, and passing over the transgression of the remnant remnant of his heritage, he does not retain his anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He loves to show you mercy. He loves it. But remember, that's his part. What's our part? REPENT, turn away from sin, turn toward him. That's our part. When we do our part, he can be super abundant in showing us mercy. We keep running away. Again, in Hosea, chapter 11, verses three and four says, It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I lead them with cords of kindness with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. Hosea chapter 11, verses three and four. How often do we think that we are tied? When we look at the when we look at the rules and regulations of the Covenant, the rules that we have to follow for God, where's the where's our heart in that place, if we're angry with God for keeping us hemmed in, and keeping our soul tied closely to him? Those are cords of kindness that his head said, that's keeping us out of trouble. Thank you, Jesus, that we are close to him. You know, in that song, come out, says bind my wandering heart to the that's the chords of kindness and with bands of love, it's not to restrict us. It's not to keep us from being free. It's to keep us in the free zone. Right? In Romans chapter two, verse four, Paul says, Do you think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? It's his kindness toward us. That causes our hearts to say God, I want to be closer to you. You have been so kind to me, even when I have been in my times of rebellion, even when I have forgotten about you, you have been kind to me. This is one of the ways that you can seek the Lord in this time of teshuva. You can just sit down with him and ask him to take you on a walk down memory lane. And say, Lord, show me your kindness over my life. Show me the places where I have forgotten about your incredible kindness to me. Show me where you have been merciful, where I didn't see that mercy before. Because sometimes when we're going through a difficulty, and we feel him, then we don't realize that is actually God's kindness to us. Or if we're going through a trying time, where we're actually growing in the Lord and growing in our trust in Him, but the circumstances are not good. We often can't see or feel the mercy and kindness of God in that moment. But if we look back over our lives, we'll see how it was a kindness and how he had been shown and goodness and mercy to us even in those moments. When I take time to reflect on the Lord's kindness in my life, I'm absolutely astounded. And because of that kindness, I then feel a greater trust in Him to be able to say okay, God, bring your flashlight of love. Deeper into my heart and show me Some of the places where I need to grow where I need to let go of the things that I am not, I'm holding on to, and it's keeping me from being close to you. Because you've shown me kindness before, I feel greater trust in you to walk down this path and release some more things to you. God in His kindness, doesn't rip everything out all at once. He is patient. And he will work with us to remove the things that are actually causing us to not be walking in great love with him. And he'll peel it down like an onion, if that's the way it needs to go. Or he'll peel it up and out like a carrot. So that goes really deep, but then there's a bunch of root hairs that are left, he'll help us sift them all out. It's very much, I think of this, going through this time in these seasons is like doing a goodwill run. So yesterday, I was in the goodwill line for a nice long time, because we had some stuff that you know, had been gathering up and I just like take it out little bits at a time. And every once in a while, it's just a good idea to go through the house and get out the things that are just not helpful anymore. It might be something that's actually standing in the way of something else that we need in the home, that's going to make it run better. Or it might just be something that we just don't use anymore. It's just not necessary. It's laying there and doesn't need to be in there, taking that time before the Lord and saying, God, what is in here? That is not helpful. I just want to give that over to you in this season. What are those things that actually I believe about you that are not true? Things that I have agreed with? That other people have told me about you, or that my thoughts have agreed with, about you. And that's not who you are at all. It's not who you are, according to your word. But it's who I believed you to be because of circumstances in my life because of things that happened to me. There are times when when we believe that God just didn't care. Or we believe that God abandoned us. But he actually has been right there with us all along. And that when he says I will never leave you I will never forsake you. Then we can invite him to those places and say, Lord, show me how you didn't leave me. Show me how you didn't forsake me. Show me your kindness, so that I can believe who you truly are, rather than hanging on to this perception that is actually keeping my heart from joining your heart. Paul gives us a warning. In first Corinthians chapter 10, verse seven, and he says, Do not become idolaters as were some of them, he's speaking about the people of Israel back with Moses. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 fell. Nor lettuce tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents, nor complain as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happen to them as examples. And they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. This is why we remember about the golden calf during teshuva. This is why we read we read the Old Testament accounts of what happened to Israel when they complained against their leaders and God opened the earth and swallowed the ones who complained. And when they were when they were also complaining against God, and then the Lord sent the serpents among them, but then he also sent away of healing and forgiveness. It's for our learning for our admonition. We might think and I don't know about you guys, sometimes when I read about what happened with the children of Israel, I'm like, What is wrong with these people? They have just crossed over the you know, the red sea on dry ground. They just saw all of those chariots and horsemen of Egypt that we're chasing after to them completely destroyed, what is wrong with them? Why are they complaining? But then what is happening to me to what have I seen God do in the great kindness in my life. And then I have a day where I'm like mommy ran. Right? I'll just tell you something about me. And this was a really good thing that happened. So when we were we were going to be assigned to Alaska and had not yet been assigned to Alaska. Our whole family was praying to be assigned in Alaska. It's except for me. Was not praying to be assigned in Alaska. I was just saying, Lord, I'll go if that's what we have to do. But everyone else was praying to go to Alaska. And then we received the orders. Oh, happy day, we're going to Alaska in December. And we're gonna arrive on the darkest day of the year, yay. And I have journal entries. Because we didn't have any furniture for a couple of weeks, I think. And so I was in the area that would that used to be it was built to be a laundry rooms can be a little office area for us. And it was also just right there where the cat box was, and that's where I was having my prayer time next to the cat box. And that's what I wrote. I'm here in Alaska, next to a cat box. It's really dark here. Right? So a lot of my journal entries were I was down and sad. And there was one day that I just, I was walking in it. And I thank the Lord for Rod. Because I said to him, I don't know why we had to come to this godforsaken place. And he said, God has not forsaken this place. And I was like, Oh, that's right. I was in the dark room. And rod turned on the light. And helped me to see that we were not in a place that God had forsaken. We were white where God wanted us to be. And he had sent us there. And I would love to be able to say that my attitude turned around just that day. It took me a year. And I was out running in a field is called Kremers field. And I was out there running. And people used to come into Fairbanks. And they would walk through this field because it's a reserve for birds and all kinds of wildlife. And it's really beautiful. And it happened to be one of those days that the bus had dropped off a lot of tourists, and many of them had their matching jackets and their field glasses and they had their hats on, you know, and they're all bundled up because they're cold. It's like in the 60s. And I'm like running out there in the field is beautiful. It's a sunny day. It's bright and gorgeous. And I'm running. And I'm see this couple walking toward me and they're matching jackets. And the Lord said, Do you see that couple right there? I said, Yes, I do. And he said, they probably saved, maybe a lifetime, to be able to come and walk in a field that you get to run in every day. The kindness of God brought my heart to repentance. I said, God, I'm so sorry that I have been so resistant. I am with stiff neck helped me to embrace where we are, and embrace the people who are here and to pour out your love upon them. That's how the kindness of God can bring us to repentance. How are we on time? Okay. So, one last thing, and then we can close. A Teshuva is also known as a time where we give an answer to God's question. That was something that I had read when I was learning about this season. God asks the question, and we are there to answer the question. Do you love me? Will you follow me? And Teshuva is the season when we search our hearts to give the answer to the question. Have you ever noticed how God and Jesus ask questions in order to reveal the depth of our heart or for helping us to arrive at the answer by their questioning those Questions caused us to dig deep into our heart motives most often simple questions, but they cause us to dig deep. And they expose our hearts so that we can see more clearly and purposefully. Elijah ran away from Jezebel and Ahab, we read about that in First Kings chapter 19. But Elijah was also running away from his calling. He had just had the big showdown between him and you know, representing God, and God, being God of all, and the showdown with Jezza bells, 450 prophets, and that God had brought fire down from heaven, and he consumed all of the sacrifice, and he is the one who brought the fire, and their gods did not. And then he was very zealous and fought against all those 450 profit prophets and kill them. And then he prayed for rain, like immediately after that pray for rain, the famine ended, and then he began to run. He ran a long way, in like 12 hours, like he just ran. And in the midst of the running, it says in First Kings, chapter 19, he had heard what just Bill had said she's, she was going to kill him. And so he was afraid. He arose and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. But then he himself went another day's journey into the wilderness. He came and he sat down under a broom tree, and he asked that he might die. I'm done. I'm done. He said, It is enough. Now, oh, Lord, take away my life. I'm no better than my father's. I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. But then an angel came to him. says in verse seven, the angel of the Lord came again a second. Well, the annual came to him twice, told him to eat. So on the second time, he touched him, and he said, a rise in eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 Nights sound familiar? to Horeb, the mount of God. That's Mount Sinai. That's where Moses met with the Lord 40 days and 40 Nights. Elijah was done. And God said, No, you're not. Come with me. I'm going to give you rest. You're going to receive restoration. You're not done. Come with me. So we went on that 40 day journey up to the mountain with the Lord. Continuing in verse nine, there he came to a cave and lodged in it, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? Here the question. He said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And he, and God said, Go out, and stand on the mound before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind toward the mountains and broken pieces, the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind, and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake of fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. All the familiar things that Elijah would be looking for the Lord and right, because that's how the Lord appeared to Moses, after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard the whisper, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars killed your prophets with the sword, and I even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint has al to be king over Israel, and Jehu the son of nem she you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Alicia, the son of Shabbat of April, ma Hola. You shall anoint to be Prophet in your place. I'm going to end that there. Elijah declared his faithfulness and he declared his desperation. Those are the answers to the question. What are you doing here? Elijah said, I'm faithful to you God, I've been very jealous for you God I'm only one that's left. Both things are happening in his heart. I've been faithful to you, but I'm all there is. But the Lord encouraged him. Because in verse 18, God said, I will leave 7000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. Elijah, there's more out there than just you, I promise. There are people who have not given their hearts over to the bales, there are people who have not gone into idol worship, you are not alone. So the Lord encouraged him after he was able to answer that question, honestly. And God commissioned him into his life calling. He told him to anoint. How's al anoint Jehu and anoint Alicia to take his place. And he spent that time forward, pouring his life into Elijah, he received his commissioning during his time of returning to God. God called him to return and he returned. Some simple question, what are you doing here? Elijah? What are you doing here? When you go to work, what are you doing there? Why are you there? What are you doing here? In mission house? Or wherever you live? What are you doing here? Jesus first words in the Book of John are, what do you seek? What do you want? What do you want from the Lord when you seek His face? What do you want? What are you seeking? Do you hear how the simple question pierces the heart? What do you seek? What are you after? God asked heavens counsel in Isaiah, his vision when God when Isaiah saw him high and lifted up, God said, Whom shall we send? And who will go for us? And Isaiah said, Here am I send me he was ready, simple question, who will go for us? And Jesus asked this question, and I often search my heart on this one. He said, When the Son of Man returns, will he really find faith in the earth? When Jesus returns, will He find faith in you? When he returns? Will he find faith in your family? In your children in your children's children? Will he find faith there? If you don't think so? Then why? What can you do now, to turn that so that when Jesus does return, he will find faith in the earth. If it's up to you, he will find faith in the earth. And he says, If you love me, you will obey my commands, that if carries the deeper question, do you love me? If you love me, you will obey my commands. So, Lord, as you ask these questions of our hearts in this season, Help us Father to truly search our hearts to give the answer to you the answer that says like Isaiah, Here am I send me? Or the answer that says yes, if it's up to me, you will find faith here on the earth when you return. And yes, Lord, I love you deeply. I will obey your commands because I know that they are not binding, as in keeping me from doing the things I want. But they're actually cords of kindness, keeping me close to your heart, and walking in your ways. Which trust you in this Lord? Amen. Amen. Thank you before we turn the recording off and go into our discussion time, I wanted to make a couple of observations that one, you know, there's something that's always puzzled me in the in Israel's history, and it's this idea that Moses goes to the mountain. And like Beth said, they went through all these miracles, and then all of a sudden, they just go out and make a golden calf and say, This is the calf that delivered us from Israel. Does that puzzle you? Well, I'm not puzzled anymore. Because of much of what I see happening around us and the world that we live in right now. And there's a realization that I've come to that it's taken me many years to learn. So this is something that I throw out. And those of you that are a lot younger than May, this is really, I mean, I wish somebody would have told me this when I was younger, rebellion is not rational. And so many people don't know that they're doing things and they think they're doing them because their mind computer of their mind is going through a logic pattern. And they're like, Oh, I'm doing this because of this. What most people don't know is that that is not the root, initiator of life actions, the heart is. And the heart will initiate things that are totally irrational and self destructive. And so this is why Beth is talking about us entering into seasons where we go through this 40 days each year, we like to go through this as a spiritual family, not because we follow the laws of the Feasts of Israel, and the patterns and all that, but there are spiritual practices that are very healthy, and one of them is corporate repentance, corporate searching our hearts corporate, so that we're not in our spiritual lives sitting there reading the Kindle, like she said, and then all of a sudden, we look up. And man, it's pitch black in the dark. I've done that many times. I'm because I'm reading, reading, reading and Bethel, walk in the room and say, did you know you're reading in the pitch black dark, and I'm like, oh, oh, because I got made because I really wasn't paying attention. And yet, in our spiritual lives, this is what can so easily happen. So if you look around today's society, and you see destructive behaviors and destructive laws and destructive this and destructive that and you're going what are people thinking? They aren't, they think they're thinking. But in fact, what's happening is people are being moved by their heart. And that's not just true, of doing wrong, that's true if doing right to the heart is the root initiator of our life actions. And so don't be surprised when you see the golden calves. But this is why it's so important for us. Because if we sit until the room gets dark, we can also become the people with the golden calves. That's kind of scary, isn't it? It is it's kind of scary. So I say, Lord, help me never get close to that. I don't even want to be near doing that. And God goes, well, this is pretty easy. returned to me, do these Asmath checks, have this season of repentance in your heart in your life, and will happen is you'll have them all year long, because you set that habit each year when we come together and do that. And then one other so that one was what I call the irrational nature of rebellion. The other one is the dangers of an artificial society. Our society today is engrossed in fiction. Fictional movies, fictional video games, fictional books. I was talking to someone recently, I think it was Janae. Because she was telling me in the in the movie and show business, I was talking to her about reality TV, she goes, That's not real. And I guess now they do a lot of acting in it. That's scripted and different things. I don't know how that works. But the point is, even what they say is real is not real. And so society today has become fictional. And here's the danger in this. When you watch a movie, you're not in the movie. Have you ever been Have you ever been in the movie? You're in it some I'll never forget one time. When I worked in the hospital. Me and the psychiatrists were in the workout room. And we're and we're on the treadmills and we're running and and I'm running on my treadmill and he's running on his treadmill. And there's a cop show on the TV. And they get into this police chase in that cop runs out of his car and he's chasing the criminal in the guy in the criminal turns the corner. And then the cop turns the corner and right when the cop turns the corner, I run right off the treadmill. I turned in rode just ran right off the treadmill. I took almost a 90 degree turn and he started laughing. He goes man, you're into this movie, aren't you? Most movies were not in him that much. That's a true story, man. movies, we are not in the movie that much we are, we are removed from the movie, the video game, the book were removed from it. Guys, here's the danger. When we start reading about the golden calf, the problem is we're not in the story. When we read about Jesus asking those questions, the problem is, we're not in the story, we have removed ourselves from the story. You're in the story. I'll tell you right now, you guys in your early 20s are close to it. Let me tell you, do you know how your 30s are gonna go? Do you know? Or you're in your teens? Do you know how your 20s are gonna go? I'm gonna tell you something. You decide how the next decade is going to go in your life with what you do in this decade. If you engage God and engage his ways and engage his heart, and you sow those seeds, what you reap in your teens, you are going to what you sow in your teens, you're going to reap in your 20s What you sow in your 20s. Guys, listen, I've watched this in hundreds of lives, not just my own, but many others, what you sow in your 20s is going to determine the harvest you get in your 30s for you guys in your 30s you guys in your 40s. For those of us in our 50s, it's still true, that what we sow right now, it doesn't matter whether you think you're in the story or not. every action, every engagement, everything we're doing right now, we're actually in the story. We are determining right now you're determining every day, what your 20s, you're going to be like, what your 30s are going to be like, what your 40s are going to be like what's your 50s are going to be like, what my 60s are going to be like by the sweat, we are sewing and that reaping is going to come in the next decade. Don't let the enemy are and don't let people deceive you into thinking that you're far removed from this, that somehow you're not in the story. This is why it's so important when we have times where we say collectively, and it's not just us, it's all the folks here on Zoom, and it's others parts of our spiritual family who are doing this. But we in this time, we are actually doing this together. And like we said last week, we're doing it so that we have momentum. If we do it together, and we say You know what? I'm going to I'm going to repent. It's like, well, Rod, what's your sin? Well, I don't know. But I'm gonna find out. That's why I'm repenting. Right? I'm going to search my heart. I'm going to, like Beth said, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna ask Lord, what are the questions you're asking me? I'll tell you what, it's a whole lot easier to repent. When something when you don't even know sins at your doorstep, then to wait until it passes your doorstep. It's in your house. And it's grown into full bore. And it's a monster. You know, I mean, sin grows into monsters. You guys know that, right? Like little sins grow into big sins, big sins grow into Monster sins, and all that can happen really fast. Why are we saying this, not just about doing the right thing. It's about being in the heart of God, in the ways of God. And the scripture says, and it will go well with you. I like that. And like Beth said, this is the kindness of God. It's the kindness of God that comes along and corrects us and brings us into the ways of the heart of God. Amen. Well, that just couple things I wanted to, to make observations. There's, I'm sure a whole lot more and we're gonna have a sharing time. But I wanted to make sure we left the recording on for that. So those of you who are listening to the teaching library, God Bless you be blessed. We'll look forward to continuing this season. And I'm excited Beth, that you were talking about Elijah because that's coming up this week. For those who are in the retreat here live. And though many flying in, that's coming this week, and it is exciting. I'm looking forward to covering it, and will for those who are listening on the teaching library. We'll publish those also. So you'll be able to hear the teachings on Elijah, and some, some more on the mantle of Elijah, but the restoration is the theme for this retreat that's coming up. God bless you