Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Frank and Catherine Belksa. She was 62, and he’s seven. Catherine spent her life painting porcelain. He was a handyman and could fix. The kids in the neighborhood said anything. In the last decade, Catherine developed severe arthritis to the point first that she had to stop her work in porcelain. Then she had to stop her work in the garden. Then she had to stop her work in the house because of the crippling pain of arthritis. One of the kids in the neighborhood brought their bike over two weeks ago to Frank. They asked him if he could fix a bolt that had broken off the rear axle. He took the bicycle, and he couldn’t see the bolt. He’s had two cataract operations in the last couple of years.

And he came back to the child with tears in his eyes, and he said, I can’t do it. I can’t see it. And this week in the paper, we read that Frank and Catherine committed suicide. He, if he had lived, would have been held responsible for her murder, and he committed suicide. And the question that I know was on that man’s heart and on her mind was the question of, doesn’t anybody know that I have problems? Doesn’t anybody care that I have problems? And it’s about problems and the way we solve them as christians, that I want to talk with you today. Elijah was one of the most powerful prophets to be found in the Old Testament. He certainly is one of the most unusual. He’s simply called a tishbite. No one knows much about them.

They don’t know much about what he looked like. They don’t know much about where he went. But there are a few episodes recorded in the book of kings that tell us about the life of Elijah, and one that is the final culmination of his life as a prophet. He has seen the nation turn away from the Lord. He has constantly watched altars being raised to bail. And one day, he comes out to Mount Carmel, and there he sees all of the people gathered, worshiping Baal. And he looks out on the people, and he gives this great call. He says, if the Lord be God, then follow him. But if Baal be God, follow him. The scriptures tell us the people were silent.

They didn’t know that he was taking his foot and drawing a line in the dirt and saying, whose side are you on? And, you know, almost every time that happens in the christian life, people don’t realize that it’s happening. So, Elijah says, I’ve got to clarify it a little more. Listen, get two oxen. I want you to take one of those oxen, and you give it to the men of bale. They’re 850 of those men. They’re their high priests. And I want you to build an altar, put the oxen on it. And what I’m going to do, after you have prayed and you have called upon your God to come and to consume that offering, then I’m going to put my oxen, and I’m going to call upon God and people, the God who answers by fire, let’s worship him and the people.

Now we understand the scriptures. Simply tell us the people were well pleased. And they said, let’s get on with it. And so, the priests of Baal began to pray. They took that oxen and they laid them out on the altar. And the time passed and nothing happened. So, they prayed a little more fervently, thinking perhaps they hadn’t done it right. Nothing happens. Then they decide what we’ll do is we’ll show Baal how serious we are about this. We’re going to cut ourselves, and if we shed our own blood, surely Baal is going to answer. And nothing happened. In the meantime, Elijah is watching the dancing, the cutting, and the praying, and heckles him. Can’t your God hear you? Perhaps he’s gone away. And finally, in desperation, the prophets of Baal give up. Elijah stands. Take that oxen, put it on the altar.

Now I want you to go and get some big tubs of water, and I want you to pour it on that oxen. And the water runs over the oxen. He says, go and do it again. And then a third time. Again, the scripture tells us that there was so much water on this altar that it covered not only the oxen, but it covered all of the wood. And it covered and filled the moat that was around the altar. And then Elijah bowed his head, and he prayed to God, show them. Show them who your prophet is. The scriptures say that fire came from heaven. It consumed the offering. It consumed the wood, it consumed the altar, and it licked up the very water that was in the trench around that altar. Do you know what the people did?

They bowed down and they said, that one, that’s God. And Elijah took the 850 prophets of Baal, and at the brook of Kishan, had them all slain. Never was there a greater victory than that day. And Ahab, who was the king, saw everything that happened on that day, and he went back to his wife Jezebel, said, you’re not going to believe it. All the prophets are dead. And Elijah’s God answered by fire. Jezebel, he’s not going to get away with it. I want a message sent to Elijah that I’m sending the troops out after him and we’re going to take his life. Do you know what the fear of one woman did to the prophet Elijah? He ran as fast as he could and he hid in a cave. And in that cave, he cried out to God, they’re after me.

They’re going to take my life. God, it would better if you took my life. Now, we’re told that the Lord then came and spoke to Elijah. And he spoke to him through a still, small voice. And that voice told Elijah, I know you’ve got problems. I know that you think the world is coming to an end. And I know that you want your own life to be taken and that you’re frightened to death. I know that. But, Elijah, I want you to know something. You think that you are the only one who has problems? Do you want to know something? I have 7000 followers. You don’t know one of them. And they’re out there. And every one of them is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Elijah, stand up. Elijah.

Go out of this cave and I want you to anoint Elisha to be the new prophet. And I want you to go to a man, Hazel, and you tell him that he is going to be the new king. That’s the job that I have for you, Elijah. Go forth. Do you think that Elijah thought that his problems were so great that there certainly was no way out either? After my life, they’ll kill me. The king, the queen is against me. Troops are coming from every angle. And here I am hiding in a cave. If you only knew my problems, Lord, you’d come to see it my way. You’d come to see it’s best that I die. But you know something about the Lord?

He constantly reminds us that our problems, no matter how great they may seem, are similar to problems that everyone who is following Christ is battling with. And the greatest tool that Satan has is to isolate problems so that you think like Elijah. If you only knew my problems. Then the Lord says, friend, I’ve got thousands of them out there. Don’t ever forget it. Each one is functioning separately. But you’re all functioning in the same way. You think you have problems. We all have problems. That’s the name of the game. But unlike Frank and Catherine, the answer is not to end it. The Lord says, get up. Go and remember why I’ve called you. There have been many books written about Abraham Lincoln.

Undoubtedly, anyone who claims to be well read on his life has not read a book called Lincoln the Unknown, written by Dale Carnegie back in the 1920s. Dale Carnegie spent two years studying the life of Lincoln. I’d remind you that some people who knew Lincoln personally were still alive then. And so, he went to New Salem, where Lincoln spent his life, and he began to meet people who could remember. Sitting down at a porch with Abraham Lincoln. He consumed a biography of Lincoln written by a man named Herndon. Herndon was Lincoln’s partner for 21 years in law. We learn that Abraham Lincoln, as a young boy, was there when his mother died. In total, he had twelve months of education. When he came to New Salem, he began a business with another fellow that within several years had gone bankrupt.

Lincoln then became a surveyor. He consumed all that he could read on the subject. He put out his sign and he failed as a surveyor; Lincoln continued. And his girlfriend, Anne Rutledge, was at the point of being married to Abraham Lincoln. She came down with an illness and died unexpectedly. The melancholy that fell upon Lincoln as a result of this, two years later, a senator who sat down with Lincoln said this. Lincoln said, although I seem to others to enjoy life rapturously at times, yet when I am alone, I am so depressed that I am afraid to trust myself even to carry a knife. And at the death of Anne Rutledge, the depression of Lincoln was so severe that his friends were in constant watch over him for fear that he’d take his own life.

That depression continued until the last year of his life. He died in 1865. He met a woman named Mary Todd. She persuaded him that he should marry her. The service was to be at 07:00. No groom, 730. No groom 08:00. And by 930, the guests began leaving because they knew that there’d be no weeding. Abraham Lincoln did not speak to Mary Todd, who lived in the same town for two years. She finally persuaded him to marry her. The constant nagging and complaining of his wife were known to everyone in town. And at one point, a man came to make delivery in that home, and Mary Todd Lincoln criticized him up and down until finally the man came over to the husband and he said, Mr. Lincoln, can’t you do something? I’ve just tried to make a delivery.

And he said, friend, can’t you put up for a few minutes with what I’ve been living with for eleven years? Lincoln had four children. The first one, Eddie, died when he was four. The second, Willie, died when he was twelve. The third, Ted, died when he was 18, and only one of the four lived his life to completion. In the presidential election. All of the members of his family, from both the father and the mother’s side, except for one person, voted against him. When the war began in 1860, Lincoln’s greatest task was to find a commander who would bring victory. And until 1864, the northern troops constantly failed, that the commanders constantly were defeated.

And in 1864, when Lincoln was to run for a second term, he was absolutely persuaded that there would be no way for him to be elected to a second term except for a little fluke of history. And he was re-elected knowing that to that point, he had failed as a general of the armed forces. He had failed to get anyone who could command his troops. Lincoln was married for 23 years. His conclusion? It was a failure. He failed in business. And yet most of us look at the life of Abraham Lincoln, and we think of it as one of the most successful and powerful lives that’s ever been lived. And yet most of us are totally unaware of the problems of his life. It’s interesting that at the Gettysburg battlefield, that it was there that Lincoln began to see the need for Christ.

And many historians are persuaded that it was in the last year of his life that he became a Christian. If he only knew my problems. We read in the book of Hebrews a very interesting account, and that is the listing in chapter eleven of the great men of faith. And in closing, the author of Hebrews tells us that there are others who are not to be mentioned. Why? Because he’s run out of time. But who are these people? He tells us that some of these people went in fire, and they died for the faith. Some of them died by the edge of the sword. Some of them died fighting armies for the cause of Christ.

There were women who learned of the death of their sons and of their husbands, that some of these were tortured, some of them were stoned, some of them were cut in two, some of them were slain. Some of them wandered from town in sheepskins and goatskins. Some of them lived in caves and dens. Now, that would be an interesting list if it were just merely a history lesson. But we are told that same crowd of witnesses who were martyrs for the faith in Jesus Christ, those same people, according to chapter twelve, verse one that we are to see about us, encompassed a great cloud of witnesses.

And let us lay aside every weight, every problem, and the sin which does so easily take over us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Meaning what? Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Do you have problems? Do you at times think like Elijah? It’s you and no one else. The Lord says, friend, there are others. There are thousands of others who are mine. And they’re going through the things that you’re going through. And don’t get isolated. Don’t separate yourself from them, but go forth.

And then the author of Hebrews says, and here’s the perspective by which you can go forward. You remember, whatever your problems, that there have been christians who have given their life for Jesus Christ. They’ve been stoned, they’ve been thrust with swords. They’ve wandered from town town without a home. They’ve been despised. They’ve been wanderers. You think you have problems? You have no problems until you’re stoned to death. We have no problems until someone comes with a sword to thrust it in our side for the sake of Christ. And the teaching of scripture is at the moment that you think you are the only one with problems and that it’s time for all to quit. Remember the witnesses. Remember the blood that has been purchased and shed for you. Get perspective. Lift yourself above it and look down the same way that God looks down.

And remember Thomas, who was stoned to death. Remember Ignatius, who in a Roman coliseum was torn to death by lions. Remember Livingston, who contracted disease, whose arm was nearly severed from his body as he continued in the cause of Christ. Remember John Huss, who was hung. Remember Wycliffe, whose body was burned. Remember Tyndale, who was strangled to death and then cast upon an open pillar of fire. Remember Bitterman, who died in Colombia by an assassin’s body. Do you think you have problems? Remember the host of witnesses that are all around you to give you and to give me perspective. Thanks be to God for that host of witnesses. For we ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you. And Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.