In the Wilderness

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. It's great to have you here today and to celebrate even in this season. We call it Advent. I don't know if you've ever heard of that word before. Advent is a time of preparation in a lot of Christian churches. It's about a month prior to Christmas itself. The word Advent means appearing, God showing up. And the fact that He showed up on Christmas itself in such a miraculous way. But that He also is going to show up again. And we look for that as well. And boy, there are days, there are weeks, there are years. I'm praying harder than ever, God please show up. Do you know what I mean? Today, we're going to be looking at how God does show up to a prophet named Elijah. In the midst of his expectations, what he thought was going to happen, what did happen, and then how God shows up. But before we do, I just wanted to share a couple of things that we at Thrive were able to do with others. One is, I wanted to share with you. There are jillions of gifts that we were able to help give for foster children in our area along with a number of others. And I know, thank you to all who gave those gifts. I know, let's see, Bill was at a wrapping party where I think he's out doing security right now. A wrapping party for the 87 different children that got these gifts. Isn't that great? 87 kids. So, thank you so much for that. You can see some of them there. And then this week also, Dan, who's a teacher at LAMP, which is the Lee Adolescent Mothers Program. It's a school for young women in high school yet who, well, are going to be mothers or who are mothers. And so, we help support their books and breakfast the last day of school. And you can see Dan right there serving it up. And the girls had a great time. About 40 or so? About 40. And it just made a real difference for them too. So, you brighten their holidays as well. Okay? I just want to thank you for those things. Let's pray. Lord God, this time of the year is a time of giving and receiving. And also a time that's totally hectic with high expectations and frustrations and everything else wrapped up. I pray today, Lord, this message of you being with us, you being one with us, you being right here with us in such an amazing way, that you would, Lord God, minister to the hearts of people in a variety of ways. There are those here who are in the midst of a blue time of the year, a time of loneliness or depression. And there are others who are just in the midst of anticipation and others in anxiety. But that your word to Elijah is a word to us today. And that you speak and minister personally and profoundly to each of us through this message. And we pray, Lord God, that you'd fill this place and every house of worship across our community this week. That people would come to understand and comprehend a little more deeply and more profoundly the magically miraculous, the stupendous mystery called the incarnation, that you, oh God, the infinite, would become finite. That you would become flesh, one with us. That you would choose to do so out of love for us, Lord. And what that all means. And we pray, Lord, that that would touch many of our neighbors and our co-workers and our friends this week. And that we would be able to do that as well, to be those who are heralds of that good news for them. All this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So today, we're looking again at this series called God With Us. And that God is with us in all sorts of circumstances. In the last few weeks, we've looked at this, that God is with us in the valley. And we looked at Psalm 23 and how he's in the midst of the valley. God with us in our giving and how in our giving and receiving, God is present. He's the one who's really using us for his kingdom's sake. Last week, it was God with us, let's see, in the valley, in our giving, and why am I just having a blank spot right now? It's pretty bad when the preacher himself forgets his own message a week later. God who is with us in all, God with us in, oh my goodness, that is just really embarrassing. What? In the storm. Yes. And that was from Acts chapter 27. Oh my God. Somebody does. The one who's saying it can't even remember it. That's pretty bad. God with us in the storm, where Paul was in the midst of the storm and how God was with him and with the sailors and the soldiers in the book of Acts. Today, we're going to be God with us in the wilderness. And Tuesday night, Christmas Eve, we're going to actually look at the passage, the profundity of what's called the Incarnation, John chapter 1, where it says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And what that means. You know, that right there was the most revolutionary statement when John wrote it in his gospel to the people of that day and age. Just totally blew away all the philosophies, all the religions, everything else. And we're going to look at what that me...