Let me introduce myself to you first of all, for some of you may not know me. Pastor Hirota and I have known each other well for over 30 years. When I first got to know him, he was a student of a bible college, and I was one of the youths of the church he attended. Later, I was called to be a pastor, and after graduation, I was sent to a church that belonged to the same denomination as Chapel Noah. Right now, I am starting a new church that has a burden for mentally sick people. My wife and I work for a living, for the church is very new and has just started. Life is hard, but we have joy in our work because we believe this is the kind of church that we have been called to serve.

Today's scripture passage you must know well. Through prayer, I was given this scripture for this morning. In the former passages, you can find Elijah winning a victory over the prophets of Baal. Yet, in spite of the amazing victory he won, he was greatly afraid of the words of Queen Jezebel.

It is sometimes hard for us to imagine the great man of God, Elijah, being so weak in spirit. In James 5:17, he is extolled as a very faithful person. When he prayed, it stopped raining, and there was a great famine. When he prayed again, it rained, and there was a flash flood! True, he was a great man, but -- it was only with the strength of God. Once he was highly praised, but then he was thought little of later on. I think we also experience these kinds of things. I, personally, have experienced this. And, when I was down, I felt that I was nothing at all. It seems silly to be like this, but I believe that we all need to go through this kind of experience. Probably Elijah had never been through this kind of experience before, so it was the first time he had fallen like that.

Right now, I spend so much time with people who have problems inside their minds and souls, that I find I am learning a lot. It is good to go without problems or inferiority complexes, but without them, it's hard to understand the suffering of others.

See verses 4-8. Elijah had run out of strength. He was tired. He wanted to leave the world. In sharing with those who have problems mentally, I quite often hear them say "I want to die." In saying this, they are searching for a better place to settle down. Just like Elijah! However, God didn't answer Elijah's grumblings. He didn't say anything. Instead, He just listened, and then He sent an angel down to encourage him. In counselling such people, it is vital to just listen to them!

The other day, I had a phone call from a man in Miyazaki, and we spent as many as two hours on the phone. Words didn't come out from him continuously, there was a fifteen minute pause between each sentence. It is very difficult to wait on such people. But, for such people having someone who is willing and able to listen is very important.

After Elijah was encouraged with food and drink, he went to Mount Horeb. Mount Horeb is something like a home place for the Israelites. He went back to the home, a starting point. This very much applies to us; whenever we have troubles, problems, or we feel exhausted, we also need to go back to our starting points. Read Re.2:3-5.

Elijah might have thought it was his own work that had swept away the evil work of Baal. He might not have saw it as the Lord working through him. So, he badly needed to go back to his starting point; to be with God. Every time we are completely fallen, it's our chance to come back to the Lord. He never leaves us in such a situation forever.

God asked Elijah "what are you doing here?" Elijah replied exactly the same way twice, in verses 10 and 14. He kept grumbling before the Lord, saying that he was too tired. To be zealous, pure and diligent is great, but we've got to be very careful in being so, it may lead you to judge others who you think are being lazy in doing God's work. Also, in being zealous, you may become proud, saying that you have done this and this with your own ability. You may become arrogant. The reason Elijah had fallen so fast after his great victory was that he had become arrogant. The key to being a true Christian is that you learn not to do things in your own strength! Instead, you learn to work with God's Spirit. Remember that we are each a branch that has been grafted to the living vine of our Lord Jesus. True people in the world, without God, have done marvelous deeds, and things that will remain noted down in history. But, our doing is what stays with the name of the Lord.

After His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter, three times, if he loved Him. Peter, who had been so zealous in following after Him! Though he had strongly proclaimed he would follow Jesus to the end, he had run away. Well, with our own strength and ability, or even with zeal, we can do nothing. Jesus asks us, three times, if we will stay with Him through life.

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
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