Last week we started this series…Under a Tree…

...and it seemed to connect with many of you as well as with myself. We all can relate to Elijah at some point. 1 Kings 19:3-4 (NLT2) ^“Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life.” We talked about how ninety percent of our lives can be going so well but that ten percent that we cannot control is chewing us up. We are telling you that you are blessed but I am also telling you that you are only one attack away from a major test or temptation in your life. Under a Tree is a message to let us know that if We can’t stay under the tree.

1. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) Paul was talking about an enduring faith that would carry him through whatever life would throw at him. Paul endured so much opposition and pain. Paul was saying life has been hard and yes it doesn’t seem fair sometimes but I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. 

2. I have learned to be content. Philippians 4:11-12 (NKJV) “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Paul says words like abased, hungry, and suffering need, yet content. We think we can have it all here but that is not what the Scriptures teach us. It’s a myth. 

3. I cant’s stay under the tree anymore. I can’t stay in a place where I expect life to always be wonderfully perfect. I can’t stay in a place where my spouse, my church, my friends, the government have to meet all my needs. I can’t stay here anymore when there is a God to be worshipped who is worthy of all my love. I can’t stay here anymore in a place of hiding from Jezebel, a place of guilt from denying Christ, a place of being sold into bondage and rejected by family…I can’t stay under this tree anymore. There is an answer to your lack, to your pain, to your sickness, to your frustration, to your loneliness, to your hunger, to your need…to your 10% and His Name is Jesus…run to Him! Acts 4:12 (NKJV) ^“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Get up! You can’t stay under this tree. Amen!