How to get up from Rock Bottom

How Do I get up from Rock Bottom

So here we are week three of the series #Askingforafriend. This series came from questions that were on a survey we did. But they are questions that you may need the answers to but are not so sure you really want to ask them yourself, so you put the hashtag on asking for a friend. And just like last week, we have some questions that people have posted.

(Insert Slides of questions)

While those are funny and I am thankful to everyone who is asking the questions, I think there is a major questions that a lot of us have had to answer. If you haven’t yet, you will. It is the question,

How do I get up from Rock Bottom.

Or how do you get backed up after you have been knocked down? I don’t know how many years it has been since you were in high school but I remember a couple years ago when I was there, this wasn’t a class taught. This was something I wished they taught us. In the few years I have been out of school, I have never had to solve a math problem with a letter in it. Except to teach other people how to do it. But we took days and weeks and years on how to do that. I can still diagram a sentence, but never have to.

Then there were all the science projects. Like volcanos with baking soda and red dye and it overflowing to kill all the lego people that I put on there and yet that knowledge still isn’t applicable to my life. I just don’t have any need for that knowledge.

There were some classes that i took that I do use. Like my choir class. My music theory class. Home know how to sew and my wife doesn’t becuase of that class, and my Grandmaw who made me practice.

But here is something we need to teach our high school students. If I could make a class in high school, it would be how to deal with failure. Because that is something that you will all have to deal with. You will have a relationship to end when you didn’t want it to. You will loose money in the stock market. You will loose people in your life. No one plans on bankruptcy or divorce. But that is the truth of life. How do we rebound.

Here is the good news for us today. The bible is full of stories of people whose dreams didn’t get realized. They didn’t quite get the response or the lookout they were hoping for. What did they do? One of those stories is about a man by the name of Elijah. Let me give you the cliff notes version of Elijah’s story. His story is found in 1 Kings. We don’t know much about the beginning of his story but he shows up and he can hear from God and talk for God. He is called a prophet. He is the hero of the story or the protagonist. Ahab is the enemy or the villian or the antagonist. So Elijah keeps talking to Ahab about his wickedness and attempting to get him to stop and how God is not pleased etc. The whole story comes to a climax in . When Elijah challenges Ahab to a duel.

But not a duel like draw your six shooter. No a duel of Gods. So Elijah say you get your people, Ill get mine and we will go up to Mount Caramel. Remember that name, which should be equal becuase it is an ice cream topper. So they go up and Elijah tells Ahab that his people can go first. He says if your God is real then we are going to build this altar and you can call down fire from and your God will respond. So they build the altar and they start the chnting. Then the best part of Elijah I think comes out. It is the part of him that I can most relate to. His taunting of the opponent. Listen in whatever sport or game I am playing, it is my duty to mess with your head. I am not a good basketball player at all but none of my students know that. Because without taking a single shot, I took a 6’3” kid who could dunk on me all day off his game and he couldn’t do a thing about it. I stood in the paint with a lemonade can and he wouldn’t drive on me. It was great.

But elijah does the same thing. They start doing their thing and Elijah in what i can only imagine is the best passive agressive voice with a hint of sarcasm says, “Maybe your God is sleeping.” Maybe he is on the toilet and he can’t hear you. Just keep on for a few more minutes. Maybe he went on bacation and din’t know you were going to do this today. Scream a little louder. He keeps egging them on. They are doing evrything from cutting themselves to dancing and shouting.

Elijah finally says ok my turn. It is like 6 hours into this thing. He says it is my turn. He walks up to altar has them pour gallons and gallons of water on it. Then he prays a short prayer and God answer then boom there is fire from heaven. Powerful story. Exciting story. Who needs any other book. You don’t need Jane Seymour. I don’t even know who that is but the name came to me. You like the romance books, there is some stuff in the bible that I won’t even repeat right now becuase there are kids present. YOu like murder, entrigue, mystery…read the bible. It’sin there.

Then Elijah is so bad, I am telling you I love this dude, he takes his sword and starts killing the false prophets. I won you loose now die. That was what he said. In my Rick James version.

How many of you have ever had a mount caramel experience. No I don’t mean where you called down fire from heaven and killed 400 eople with a sword. I mean a mount caramel moment where you needed God to come through and he came through for you. You were facing your mountain of debt, no job, all the enemies stacked against you and you said God i need you. and He showed up.

I mean we have all been there. I don’t deserve the wife I have today but god showed up. I don’t deserve to be preaching to you all today but god showed up. You don’t deserve the job you have but God showed up. Your kids didn’t deserve to graduate but God showed up. You thought you were going to end up dead but God showed up. I mean come on. Some of you all know what I am talking about. YOu were there, it was over, no one saw your escape, but God showed up.

But there there is chapter 19 of Elijah’s story. The story take a turn and many of us stop right there at 18. OH man that was awesome Elijah. YOu threw the winning pass. YOu graduated. You are married now. That’s AMAzing! But the story doesn’t end there does it. Just a few verses and here is what happens. Starting in chapter 19.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

The New King James Version Chapter 19

So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

So in our story we have this powerful moment in which God comes through then we have this moment in which Elijah is running for his life and wants to die. Both of which happened on two separate mountains. THe first one is Mount Carmel the second is mount Horeb with a desert in the middle. Mount Carmel is where god shows up with mighty power and mount Horeb is where Elijah is running from Jezebel.

You realize we have all taken that journey. If you have lived any time at all on earth especially being a follower of Jesus. You will have those mountains of success where God is just really coming through. Things are happening. The kids are good. I mean you are just on the mountain. Then you make the journey to the other mountain. Mount Horeb where it is the place of defeat. The place of regret. The place of disappointment. The kids are fighting again. The business is going down or is gone. The dreams are covered with disappointment. Your marriage is failing. The doctor report isn’t what you had hoped. I know you have been there and maybe even sitting here today with your fake smile, you are right there. Maybe you are watching online from Mount Horeb. How do we live right here? How once we are facing this mountain of disappointment and disgrace and even depression to we get up from there? How do we survive those times? Let me just tell you before I give the answer, it isn’t easy. I understand why when people make it here, just like Elijah, they want to die. I don’t make fun, I don’t take it lightly. I just want to give you hope today. The same God that was on mount Carmel is the same one on Mount Horeb. The same one that showed up then, can and will show up now. The same God that brought you the success in the first place is the same God that will show up to bring you out of your disappointment. Just hang on. Look at verse 9.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Now hear this. God knows everything. So when God ask questions it is not because He doesn’t know the answer. He didn’t ask Adam where he was becuase he didn’t know. He knew and he knew the answer to this question. In your notes its like this.

God doesn’t ask questions because HE needs answers but because WE need to analyze.

So God ask the question what are you doing here Elijah. Now that question has some components to it. Depending upon how God ask it. You know what I mean. How you say something can completely change the meaning of a sentence. For example. There is a phrase that I am sure most of us have heard or said before. How you doin?

Depending up on which word you put the emphasis will change the meaning of the phrase. Some of you all becuase you are heathens said it like this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc2Z7CL4Cv0

If you said it like that, the implication is some sort of romance. If you put the emphasis on how you are legitimately asking how a person is doing. Or take the word really. A rising pitch for that word show surprise. A falling pitch shows disbelief and a steady pitch shows sarcasm. How God ask this says a lot about what his question was really asking.

So the first way I think He asked it was in shock that Elijah was even at Horeb. What are YOU doing here? Because here is somehting you must know.

Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.

There are so many times that people say God is putting you through something to build something, I think he allows us to go through to reveal something. As soon as opposition hit we see the true character of Elijah. Which is why you have to be careful who is on the church softball team. You can’t really find leaders for your church at a church softball games. Because their character is revealed. They are losing and the there is a missed call or they are winning and a call goes against them. Its softball. But not church softball. Church softball is all about folks who wanted to play in the major league but couldn’t so they started church softball to show everyone how much better than them they really are. Church softball doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Driving on 65 doesn’t build character. It reveals it. I mean we come to this place and sing all day about trusting God but when a snowflake hits the ground or when it is black friday, you get elbowed in the face for the milk and bread or for the 35 inch tv. I mean it is nuts. Where is your trust in the Lord. I know that some of yall are thinking that I am not talking to you. I am talking to your friend. Becuase you have been on Mt Carmel so long that all of your character flaws have fallen to the bottom until life gets hard and it shakes you up a bit and then all the issues you have mix in your life. Or maybe a little bit of heat gets added to your life like this lava lamp and things long thought to be gone start to rise. See look waht Elijah did just as soon as a bit of adversity hit him.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

he arose and ran for his life

Listen to me right now. Quit working so hard to get to the top of Carmel.

Your character is so much more important than your calling.

Work now on your character so that when your Mt Horeb happens you will be ready. If you work on your character, then God will be worry about your calling.

Charisma can take you to the top, but character will keep you there.

But lets say you have failed. You or your friend are here today or watching via facebook and you have already ran. YOu have already failed. You are already at Mount Horeb. Listen to me.

The same God that promoted you at the top is the same God that will provide for you at the bottom.

As Elijah is running he gets tired. Vs 5 says this.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.

God has not left you. He does not leave. He does not abandon. Yes Elijah made a bad choice in running. Yes he should have stayed and dealt with Jezebel. Yes I bleieve God wanted to back Him again in that moment to. But God doesn’t leave just because it appears you are loosing. You ever heard of bandwagon fans. That is probably 95% of all the cavs fans. They are on when they winning and love Lebron but are off when they are loosing and hate his guts. God is not like that. He is not just there when you are winning. He is there all the time. Even when you don’t feel him. Even when you don’t see him. Even when you believe he has left and the pills seem like the only way out or the gun. God is there. You are here right now today or listening right now today becuase God is reaching out to you.

David says it like this.

The New King James Version Psalm 37

I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his descendants begging bread.

26 He is ever merciful, and lends;

And his descendants are blessed.

So I imagine this one was like Hey what ya doing here. As though God was waiting on him at Mt Horeb because God knew Elijah would need Him. THen the third thing

God doesn’t beat us when we are down. He meets us while we are down.

Please hear me when I say that. You are not at Mt Horeb alone and God is not disappointed with you. He hasn’t rung his hands of you. He cares for you. So many people are afraid to get close to god because they believe that He is going to be like their parents. We are afraid that God is going to come like when we were kids and you brought home a note from school and your mom would tell you to go sit in your room and wait for your daddy to come home. You sit and fret worrying about your daddy coming home. You pray for the rapture to happen. You pray for amnesia from your mom. We feel like God is going to do that to us that the only reason he is getting close to us is to get a better hold of us. But that simply isn’t true. He wants to hold you alright and it is to love you. To hug you. TO squeeze you.

Elijah didn’t want to be next to God either. He says in verse 10

The New King James Version Chapter 19

I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.

But look at verse 11.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

The wind is those storms of life that howl and try to drown out the word of God, the pink slip, unexpected bills. The earthquake is when your whole world is torn apart. The divorce, the factor is closing, your pregnant, you get the report from the doctor. Then the fire is when its all gone up in smoke and you have no where to turn. You have nothing to hold on to. Notice what the wind didn’t get the eathquake did and what the earthquake didn’t get the fire got, but God wasn’t in any of that. He came after with the voice to draw you out saying, don’t stay here. There is more for you. Just a gentle small voice to call you out. Why do you think God whispered?

Because when you are going through all of that you have to change your posiition to him. When someone whispers let me show you.

God is whispering not so that you can’t hear him, but so that you get close enough to hear him.

See our normal response is to pull away when we are down. When we mess up. You can most of the time tell when someone is cheating in a relationship because they do what. Become uninterested and pull away. God doesn’t want you doing that. He can’t protect you when you are far away. You saying God isn’t every Chris. No what I am saying is that the further you go the harder it is for you to hear the whisper.

PLAY MUSIC

The story of Elijah goes on to say in verse 15

The New King James Version Chapter 19

Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive

The New King James Version Chapter 19

Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place

In other words Elijah, I am not done with you. Go back to where you went of track. Go back to that time where it started to derail for you. THere is someone there waiting on you to return who is going to carry your legacy on. Because you story doesn’t end here. This isn’t the final chapter of your life. SOmeone needs to hear that right now. GOd is not done with you. It is not the end. Don’t let the book close and leave the ending like this. You just like Elijah have a decision to make. Are you going to move as God has instructed or are you going to stay. See Elijah could have hung out on Mt Horeb and sold Tshirts about Mt Carmel. Yep that was me. Look what I did. Life was so great on Carmel. But that wasn’t the end for him and Mt. Carmel isn’t even his biggest accomplishment.

The greatest legacy that Elijah had was the production of a spiritual son who would do far more miracles than he did. See Elijah had a choice and we read in vs 19 what his decision was.

The New King James Version Chapter 19

So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat

Elijah I iddn’t stay. What is you Elisha. What is the next thing. The best is still yet to come. If you are still breathing you can still move forward.

Our greatest successes are on the other side of our greatest setbacks.

God just allows you to get to a place sometimes where the humiliiyt hits the pride goes away and you are so crushed that you have to lean in to Him. Because you won’t hear it any other way. You can’t hear over the fire and the wind and the earthquakes so just wait. Get alone and hear what God is trying to say. YOur greatness is right in front of you.

Its like this. My girls play softball. They have been playing for awhile now. And we will play toss in the back yard. When we would do this and they were just now learning they wouldn’t always get the throw to me. We would keep backing up and backing up and the ball would go here or the over there or it would just fall short sometimes. So I would tell them, its ok. Throw it again. Well one day we were at a game and Isabella was playing 3rd. The ball is hit right to her just needed to make throw but didn’t the girls is safe and the girl on third ran home costing our team a run. She was mad at herself. I told her, you messed up throw it again. Make up for it. She goes to bat and hits a double causing two runs to score. I came to the dugout and she said did you see that Daddy. I sure did great job. You made up for the mistake. We actually went on to win the game.

No one plays the game perfectly, but it is the guy who recovers from his mistakes that wins. Phil Jackson