Carolina Baptist Church

Can a Christian who has watched God answer prayer in a mighty way end up too discouraged to pray at all? Elijah did. One day he called down fire on Mount Carmel and prayed the rain back to Israel. Soon after, he was running for his life from Jezebel and sitting under a juniper tree, asking God to take his life.

Key Verse: "And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" - 1 Kings 19:9 (KJV)

In this Wednesday night message, Pastor Marc Williamson walks through 1 Kings 19 to show how quickly a strong prayer life can be shut down. Jezebel's threat filled Elijah's mind with lies, the crash after a great victory left him in despair, his body was worn out, and he sent away the one companion he had. But God did not abandon His servant. He let him rest and fed him, invited him to pour out his heart, straightened out his thinking with His word, and gave him someone to serve alongside.

James reminds us that Elijah was a man just like us. Guard your praying, and when the fire burns low, let the Lord rekindle it.

Is going to church really that important when you can watch the service from home? Jesus warned that as the day of His return draws near, sin would abound and the love of many would grow cold. The writer of Hebrews ties that danger directly to the gathering of God's people.

Few men ever walked closer to Jesus than Judas. For three and a half years he heard the sermons, saw the miracles, and even carried the money bag, yet he never truly surrendered his heart. Being around Jesus is not the same as belonging to Him.

Key Verse: "And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly." - John 13:27 (KJV)

Preaching the Sunday after Camp Meeting, Justin Williamson takes a hard look at Judas in John 13. Even at the Last Supper, Jesus held out the sop as one last invitation, but Judas took the bread and rejected the Savior. His betrayal didn't happen overnight. It grew out of private compromise and a love of money he never dealt with, and when regret finally came, he carried it to the priests instead of to Christ. Peter failed that same night, but Peter ran back to Jesus and found forgiveness.

Remorse can't do what repentance does. Don't settle for almost; run to the cross and give Him your whole heart.

Onesimus was a runaway servant trying to escape a debt he could never pay. He wasn't looking for God; he was just trying not to get caught. But somewhere along the way, he wandered right into the preaching of the apostle Paul.

Key Verse: "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;" - Philemon 1:18 (KJV)

On the closing night of Camp Meeting, Evangelist Heath Williams preaches from the little book of Philemon. He shows how God's providence led a lawbreaker to the gospel, how Onesimus gave himself to serving the Lord out of love rather than for what he could get, and how Paul stood in the gap for him with a letter that said, "Put that on mine account." The runaway went home not as a servant but as a brother, and his story points us to Jesus, who paid our debt at Calvary and still represents us before the Father.

Whatever you owe, Christ has already covered it. Serve Him for the right reasons, and trust Him with the rest.

In a single day Job lost his flocks, his servants, and all ten of his children, and soon his health was gone too. His first response was to fall down and worship. But in the long, silent chapters that followed, Job did what most of us would do: he started asking God why.

Key Verse: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." - Job 42:5 (KJV)

Preaching through the whole book of Job, Evangelist Tyler Blue shows that having questions doesn't mean you've lost your faith. You don't ask someone why unless you believe they're listening. Yet when God finally spoke out of the whirlwind, He never explained Job's trials. Instead He asked who laid the foundations of the earth, who feeds the lion, and who teaches the eagle to fly. Once Job saw who God is, his questions fell silent, and he could say that what he had only heard about, he had now seen for himself.

You may never get the why. But you can know the Who, and He is worthy of your worship even in the ashes.

Everybody wants revival until it costs something. When Paul and Silas planted the gospel in Philippi, the first thing that came against them was the devil himself, and before long they were beaten, chained, and locked in the inner prison.

Key Verse: "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." - Acts 16:25 (KJV)

In this Camp Meeting message, Dr. Stephen Brackeen walks through Acts 16 and the things that interrupt revival: Satan's counterfeits, a church that would rather put on a show, and people who only get stirred up when it touches their pocketbook. Then he turns to midnight, when two bleeding preachers prayed and sang loud enough for the whole prison to hear. That same night the man who laid the stripes on their backs washed their wounds and was baptized, and Paul's suffering became a covering for the young church meeting in Lydia's home.

God can take a story that starts at the whipping post and finish it at the water. Your hardest night may be the very place He is building something that lasts.

We often talk about waiting on the Lord as if it means sitting still. But Hannah stayed busy while she waited. Year after year she prayed, worshiped, and went up to God's house, long before she ever saw her answer.

Key Verse: "And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation." - 1 Samuel 2:1 (KJV)

On the second night of Camp Meeting, Evangelist Jared Dixon comes back to 1 Samuel from the other side of the story. God remembered Hannah, but did Hannah remember God? Her prayers grew from desperate, challenging prayers into cherished ones. Once Samuel was born, she bragged on the holiness, power, and provision of God. And she worshiped the same way before the answer as after it, keeping her vow to give her son back to the Lord. He closes by showing how Hannah's song of praise echoes in Mary's song a thousand years later.

How you live while you wait matters. Keep praying, keep worshiping, and let God prove Himself faithful in your life.