We have all experienced the excitement of opening presents on Christmas morning only to find that the most sought after present requires batteries that are not included. In our text, there are people looking for answers. Jesus told them to go and wait in Jereulisum and He would send them a gift. The Holy Ghost began to fall on people there, and onlookers ask what must we do to receive this? They came expecting to receive their gift. They received their gift, and unlike our Christmas morning story, they did not have to wait on power. The power of God took over and it sounded like a mighty wind. A battery is something placed into a device that supplies it power. The gift of the Holy Ghost works immediately without having to wait for more power. When the power of God falls on to people, it causes us to want to take that power to other people. When God gives us the Holy Ghost, He gives us power. The bible tells us: "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." The power is included when we receive the gift, all we have to do is turn it on. Prayer turns it on. There is power in prayer. As adults we are too analytical. To a child, when they are given a toy, they believe it will work. They don't need to know the internal workings, all they want to know is how to turn the power on. Jesus said we would need child like faith. We don't need to know how it works, we simply need to turn it on. David stood before the giant with enough power to do the job. It was not David, but God who supplied the power. There is a power in each of us that is unmatchable. God is working in us and on our behalf. In us is the power to overcome, the power to be saved, the power to be healed. We come with power in the name that is above all names. There is power in the name of Jesus. When we feel out batteries draining, we need to plug into the power of God and recharge. As children we cringed when we saw the words "Batteries Not Include" on a gift. The holy ghost is a wonderful gift from God and the batteries are included.

We have all experienced the excitement of opening presents on Christmas morning only to find that the most sought after present requires batteries that are not included. In our text, there are people looking for answers. Jesus told them to go and wait in Jereulisum and He would send them a gift. The Holy Ghost began to fall on people there, and onlookers ask what must we do to receive this? They came expecting to receive their gift. They received their gift, and unlike our Christmas morning story, they did not have to wait on power. The power of God took over and it sounded like a mighty wind. A battery is something placed into a device that supplies it power. The gift of the Holy Ghost works immediately without having to wait for more power. When the power of God falls on to people, it causes us to want to take that power to other people. When God gives us the Holy Ghost, He gives us power. The bible tells us: "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." The power is included when we receive the gift, all we have to do is turn it on. Prayer turns it on. There is power in prayer. As adults we are too analytical. To a child, when they are given a toy, they believe it will work. They don't need to know the internal workings, all they want to know is how to turn the power on. Jesus said we would need child like faith. We don't need to know how it works, we simply need to turn it on. David stood before the giant with enough power to do the job. It was not David, but God who supplied the power. There is a power in each of us that is unmatchable. God is working in us and on our behalf. In us is the power to overcome, the power to be saved, the power to be healed. We come with power in the name that is above all names. There is power in the name of Jesus. When we feel out batteries draining, we need to plug into the power of God and recharge. As children we cringed when we saw the words "Batteries Not Include" on a gift. The holy ghost is a wonderful gift from God and the batteries are included.

There is nothing that is harder to understand than life. Getting through today and dealing with tomorrow is challenging. Just when we think life is going up, it twists and goes down. When we think it is falling apart, everything seems to come together. None of us upon looking back over our life would predict the path that it has taken. Things come along that we do not expect. Some of the greatest trials in life come on the heels of us being closer to God than we have ever been. Our text illustrates the twists and turns in life. Of all the people in the bible, Elijah is perhaps one of the last we would expect to say: It is enough, let me die. He utters these words just after standing firm in the face of adversity and receiving blessings from God. At this point in his life Elijah should have been standing confident, but we see him here giving up and ready to die. Elijah was running away. He has run somewhere around 100 miles on foot. He crawls under a juniper tree in the desert and asks God to take his life. In chapters 17 and 18 he is on top and in 19 he is giving up and ready to die. We are also susceptible to these pendulum swings in our life. Our text is an expression of something that we all live with. Elijah is a man of confidence and power. He faces formidable foes and came away victorious. He had been a man of great action. He had beaten the false prophets. But in chapter 19, he was not acting to life, but reacting. He moved form acting with direction to reacting to what life brought his way. When we start reacting to life there are a domino falling action of events that can spiral out of control. The first place this shows up is in our thinking. The thing that seemed so sure the day before, are now cloudy. He began to question what God had told him. Our reasoning to become flawed when we react. Our mind begins to play tricks on us. When this happens we start thinking our way into the dump and before we know it, we have accelerated to the bottom. The next domino is that we begin to focus on how fragile we are. We think we are at our limits. Then we lose control of his emotion. The things that were our strength, becomes our enemy. Fear shows up. The opposite of fear is not strength, but faith. Once fear shows up , we begin to question things that we were sure of. When we start reacting to life, fear shows up and then courage goes away. After fear shows up and courage leaves, we become defensive. We feel as if we cannot trust anyone. This is a place of self preservation. In this stange, walls are erected to keep people out. Like Elijah people in this stage of reacting run. They run from church to church, from job to job, from friend to friend. Elijah was running away from not to what God called him to do. When we are running away from and not to something. When we run in the right direction, God will provide what we need, but when we run away, there will be no provision. When we react to life, we are focused no our problems not God. When we react to life, it will cause us to do a wise thing in an unwise way. When he fell down under the tree, Elijah began to pray. Praying is good, but he was praying in the wrong way. When we react to life, it will ultimately affect what we say about life. Elijah had given up and was ready to die. When we start comparing ourselves to others, we will always come up wanting. God does not measure us against others standards, He asks us to live up to His standards. God has a unique plan for each of our lives, so comparing ourselves to others is not even relevant. When we start reacting to life, we set ourselves on a path that can result in a downward spiral. This is the dangers of reacting.

There is nothing that is harder to understand than life. Getting through today and dealing with tomorrow is challenging. Just when we think life is going up, it twists and goes down. When we think it is falling apart, everything seems to come together. None of us upon looking back over our life would predict the path that it has taken. Things come along that we do not expect. Some of the greatest trials in life come on the heels of us being closer to God than we have ever been. Our text illustrates the twists and turns in life. Of all the people in the bible, Elijah is perhaps one of the last we would expect to say: It is enough, let me die. He utters these words just after standing firm in the face of adversity and receiving blessings from God. At this point in his life Elijah should have been standing confident, but we see him here giving up and ready to die. Elijah was running away. He has run somewhere around 100 miles on foot. He crawls under a juniper tree in the desert and asks God to take his life. In chapters 17 and 18 he is on top and in 19 he is giving up and ready to die. We are also susceptible to these pendulum swings in our life. Our text is an expression of something that we all live with. Elijah is a man of confidence and power. He faces formidable foes and came away victorious. He had been a man of great action. He had beaten the false prophets. But in chapter 19, he was not acting to life, but reacting. He moved form acting with direction to reacting to what life brought his way. When we start reacting to life there are a domino falling action of events that can spiral out of control. The first place this shows up is in our thinking. The thing that seemed so sure the day before, are now cloudy. He began to question what God had told him. Our reasoning to become flawed when we react. Our mind begins to play tricks on us. When this happens we start thinking our way into the dump and before we know it, we have accelerated to the bottom. The next domino is that we begin to focus on how fragile we are. We think we are at our limits. Then we lose control of his emotion. The things that were our strength, becomes our enemy. Fear shows up. The opposite of fear is not strength, but faith. Once fear shows up , we begin to question things that we were sure of. When we start reacting to life, fear shows up and then courage goes away. After fear shows up and courage leaves, we become defensive. We feel as if we cannot trust anyone. This is a place of self preservation. In this stange, walls are erected to keep people out. Like Elijah people in this stage of reacting run. They run from church to church, from job to job, from friend to friend. Elijah was running away from not to what God called him to do. When we are running away from and not to something. When we run in the right direction, God will provide what we need, but when we run away, there will be no provision. When we react to life, we are focused no our problems not God. When we react to life, it will cause us to do a wise thing in an unwise way. When he fell down under the tree, Elijah began to pray. Praying is good, but he was praying in the wrong way. When we react to life, it will ultimately affect what we say about life. Elijah had given up and was ready to die. When we start comparing ourselves to others, we will always come up wanting. God does not measure us against others standards, He asks us to live up to His standards. God has a unique plan for each of our lives, so comparing ourselves to others is not even relevant. When we start reacting to life, we set ourselves on a path that can result in a downward spiral. This is the dangers of reacting.

Out first text we have the first set of siblings in all of creation. Both brothers had brought offerings to the Lord, but God accepted the offering from Able, but not for Cain. When this happened, Cain became angry and slew his brother. The bible tells us that the blood of Able screamed out from the ground. This is because it was innocent blood. The bible explains in Deuteronomy the process that would be followed if a man were to be found dead without any one knowing who had done it. They had to go through a process to offer a sacrifice to atone for the innocent blood. Today in our world, the enemy roams our neighborhoods and cities for souls to steal, kill and destroy. It is the church's job to offer a place of refuge and safety. If a soul is lost to Satan, will there be a process for the church to deal with the innocent blood that is spilled? When a soul is lost, are we guilty for not hearing them when they called out for help?

In the reading from Acts we find Peter received a revelation to go to Cornelius's home. Cornelius was as a Gentile and Jewish culture was that Jews and Gentiles did not mix. Because Peter obeyed God's word, the gospel was brought to the Gentiles. Peter did not say, as Cain had said "I am not my borhter's keeper" He went and obeyed. As the church, we are to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We cannot simply stand by and ignore their crys for help. A world of Cornelius' are waiting for the word of God.

Out first text we have the first set of siblings in all of creation. Both brothers had brought offerings to the Lord, but God accepted the offering from Able, but not for Cain. When this happened, Cain became angry and slew his brother. The bible tells us that the blood of Able screamed out from the ground. This is because it was innocent blood. The bible explains in Deuteronomy the process that would be followed if a man were to be found dead without any one knowing who had done it. They had to go through a process to offer a sacrifice to atone for the innocent blood. Today in our world, the enemy roams our neighborhoods and cities for souls to steal, kill and destroy. It is the church's job to offer a place of refuge and safety. If a soul is lost to Satan, will there be a process for the church to deal with the innocent blood that is spilled? When a soul is lost, are we guilty for not hearing them when they called out for help?

In the reading from Acts we find Peter received a revelation to go to Cornelius's home. Cornelius was as a Gentile and Jewish culture was that Jews and Gentiles did not mix. Because Peter obeyed God's word, the gospel was brought to the Gentiles. Peter did not say, as Cain had said "I am not my borhter's keeper" He went and obeyed. As the church, we are to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We cannot simply stand by and ignore their crys for help. A world of Cornelius' are waiting for the word of God.

In most things in line almost is not good enough. We can go to many things, but unless we go through it, we have not accomplished anything. If a runner running the race does not cross the finish line, he has not accomplished anything. Sometimes God leads us to it, and we must rely on Him to lead us through it. There may be an obstacle in our path, but God has brought us to something to see us through it. God did not bring us to the valley to leave us. He LEADS us through the valley. We need to rejoice in going through something, because on the other side is blessing. If we are going through something, God hears our cry and will pick us up out of the miry clay and set them on solid ground. We sometimes question God when we are going through something. It is not a sin to do this. job questioned God, but He did not sin in doing so. After Job questioned, God replied that He had some questions. His questions put into perspective that God has it all in His control. We do not have to understand what we may be facing, but God knows. He knows the beginning and the ending. The God that can create the heavens and the earth can more than handle whatever problem we may have. He knows what He is doing. He will get us through it.

In our text Moses was leading the people out of Egypt. When God called him, Moses doubted and protested. God simply said go. Every time there seemed to be an obstacle, God provided a way through miracles and wonders. When they reached the Red Sea, Moses did not know how to do it, but God provided him with instructions. God brought Israel to the Red Sea and then through it. There was certainly fear and wonder in them as they walked on the dry seabed with walls of water on both sides. The did not understand what was happening, but they went through. When they got to the other side, they still had to endure the wilderness. Sometimes when we get through something, God needs to take us through something else. Through it all, God has it in control. God does not bring us to an obstacle and leave us there. He is right there with us along the way.

In most things in line almost is not good enough. We can go to many things, but unless we go through it, we have not accomplished anything. If a runner running the race does not cross the finish line, he has not accomplished anything. Sometimes God leads us to it, and we must rely on Him to lead us through it. There may be an obstacle in our path, but God has brought us to something to see us through it. God did not bring us to the valley to leave us. He LEADS us through the valley. We need to rejoice in going through something, because on the other side is blessing. If we are going through something, God hears our cry and will pick us up out of the miry clay and set them on solid ground. We sometimes question God when we are going through something. It is not a sin to do this. job questioned God, but He did not sin in doing so. After Job questioned, God replied that He had some questions. His questions put into perspective that God has it all in His control. We do not have to understand what we may be facing, but God knows. He knows the beginning and the ending. The God that can create the heavens and the earth can more than handle whatever problem we may have. He knows what He is doing. He will get us through it.

In our text Moses was leading the people out of Egypt. When God called him, Moses doubted and protested. God simply said go. Every time there seemed to be an obstacle, God provided a way through miracles and wonders. When they reached the Red Sea, Moses did not know how to do it, but God provided him with instructions. God brought Israel to the Red Sea and then through it. There was certainly fear and wonder in them as they walked on the dry seabed with walls of water on both sides. The did not understand what was happening, but they went through. When they got to the other side, they still had to endure the wilderness. Sometimes when we get through something, God needs to take us through something else. Through it all, God has it in control. God does not bring us to an obstacle and leave us there. He is right there with us along the way.

In biblical times the Jews had little to do with the Sumerians. There was a seething animosity that had existed for many years before Christ came. It happened that the quickest way to get from Judea to Samaria, or to Galilee, was through Samaria. It would take about three days that way, or twice as long to go another way. In our text, Jesus was traveling through Samaria to Galilee. Many, including the disciples could easily think that this trip by Jesus was simple convenience to move into another area for ministry. Nothing happens by chance for God. It was hot and uncomfortable on this trip. Along the way, Jesus stopped at Jacob's well to rest. The traveling party went on into town and Jesus was there by himself. It is here that He encountered the woman at the well. It might seem like a chance meeting, but it was not. It was to mark a significant change in her life. The disciples returned from town to find her talking to this Sumerian woman. hey were not too happy to find this situation. She breaks away to go tell her town about Jesus and the disciples began to talk to Jesus about his encounter. The disciples were so focused on getting out of Sumeria, that they missed that He was ministering. To the disciples, Samaria was just a place to pass through. It was unpleasant and they did not like it. They wanted nothing to do with these people. The quicker they could get out of there, the better they would feel. Jesus reminds them that there was a harvest to be had right there in that miserable place. Jesus saw opportunity in their misery. They were trying to get through it, and Jesus was trying to show them the promise that was right before them. He was trying to show them that in the very place of their misery, He saw possibility.

Many of us are like those disciples. We are in such a hurry to get through an unpleasant situation, that we may be missing an opportunity that God has for us to glorify the Kingdom. What are we missing because we are in such a hurry to get through? What if God purposely brought us to this unwanted place so He could reveal his power? Why wait for a better day that we can see coming to praise Him? Praise him right where we are, and look for the opportunities that God has presented. God's promises are good and true no matter where we are. No matter if we are in Judea or Galilee, or Samaria, God has a blessing for us. Right were we are is the greatest opportunity for God to show His strength. If we will just open our eyes we can see what we are missing.

In biblical times the Jews had little to do with the Sumerians. There was a seething animosity that had existed for many years before Christ came. It happened that the quickest way to get from Judea to Samaria, or to Galilee, was through Samaria. It would take about three days that way, or twice as long to go another way. In our text, Jesus was traveling through Samaria to Galilee. Many, including the disciples could easily think that this trip by Jesus was simple convenience to move into another area for ministry. Nothing happens by chance for God. It was hot and uncomfortable on this trip. Along the way, Jesus stopped at Jacob's well to rest. The traveling party went on into town and Jesus was there by himself. It is here that He encountered the woman at the well. It might seem like a chance meeting, but it was not. It was to mark a significant change in her life. The disciples returned from town to find her talking to this Sumerian woman. hey were not too happy to find this situation. She breaks away to go tell her town about Jesus and the disciples began to talk to Jesus about his encounter. The disciples were so focused on getting out of Sumeria, that they missed that He was ministering. To the disciples, Samaria was just a place to pass through. It was unpleasant and they did not like it. They wanted nothing to do with these people. The quicker they could get out of there, the better they would feel. Jesus reminds them that there was a harvest to be had right there in that miserable place. Jesus saw opportunity in their misery. They were trying to get through it, and Jesus was trying to show them the promise that was right before them. He was trying to show them that in the very place of their misery, He saw possibility.

Many of us are like those disciples. We are in such a hurry to get through an unpleasant situation, that we may be missing an opportunity that God has for us to glorify the Kingdom. What are we missing because we are in such a hurry to get through? What if God purposely brought us to this unwanted place so He could reveal his power? Why wait for a better day that we can see coming to praise Him? Praise him right where we are, and look for the opportunities that God has presented. God's promises are good and true no matter where we are. No matter if we are in Judea or Galilee, or Samaria, God has a blessing for us. Right were we are is the greatest opportunity for God to show His strength. If we will just open our eyes we can see what we are missing.