Kenneth Malenge

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SOUL IS DISCOURAGED? Text: 1 Kings 19:1–18 Let us turn our Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 19. Before we come to our text, let me ask you a simple question. Have you ever reached a point where you felt you could not continue? You still came to church. You still greeted people. You still sang the hymns. You still carried on with your responsibilities. But inside, you were tired. Discouraged. Overwhelmed. Perhaps there is someone here this morning carrying a burden nobody else knows about. You love the Lord, but you are weary. You believe God's promises, but you are struggling. You have not abandoned the faith, but discouragement has entered your soul. If that describes you, then this message is for you. The truth is that discouragement is not a rare problem. The World Health Organization reports that hundreds of millions of people around the world struggle with depression, and every year hundreds of thousands die by suicide. Behind many of those tra...

 Understanding Matthew 21:23–46 in the Simplest Way Main Idea of the Whole Passage Jesus is showing that: many religious leaders looked spiritual, but their hearts were against God. They said they served God, but when God’s Son came, they rejected Him. So the whole passage is really about one question: “Will people submit to Jesus or reject Him?” The Flow of the Passage Jesus gives: One question, Then two stories. All three teach the same lesson. PART 1 — THE QUESTION ABOUT AUTHORITY (vv.23–27) The religious leaders ask Jesus: “Who gave you authority to do these things?” Why are they asking this? Because Jesus had just: entered Jerusalem like a King, cleansed the temple, acted with authority. The leaders are upset. But their question is not honest. They already hate Jesus. They simply do not want Him ruling over them. So Jesus asks them about John the Baptist. They refuse to answer honestly because: they fear the crowd, and they fear losing influ...