What are you doing here?

Jeremy Leithoff

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08-01-2021

Welcome to August

I don’t know about you but last week was a rough week

So this morning this sermon is i know more for me than probably you

See I have struggled and wrestled all week about people pleasing and fearing failure

I have not slept good, it has just been a struggle all week

Now I could easily set up here and complain about everything going on and then give you a sermon on what you and I should be doing

But I want to be honest this morning and say it is difficult

I don’t want you to sit there and think I have it all together, that i am the super duper hired spiritual guy and don’t struggle

Just ask Randi, and she can share with you

But after VBS and the great things that happened

It almost seemed like the bottom fell out

Rest assured church

We are under attack

We have shared the Gospel

We will continue to find ways to share the Gospel

We will continue to be unified in a very much non unified world

We will follow Gods direction for our church even when it is tough and difficult

For that you can rest assured that we will be attacked, satan will wanted to divide the church over the smallest of things

Elijah

1 Kings 18:20–22 NASB95

20 So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

Elijah has just told all the people that he is the only Prophet of the Lord left

You can almost hear the frustration in his voice

If God is the true God then follow Him and if he is not then don’t

Elijah is frustrated and upset

Elijah had observed the people turn from the true God

image the frustration and nervousness when he tells them he is only prophet of God left

I wonder if we have ever felt like Elijah

That it is all on your shoulders and you are the only one left

That if you slip up it is all on you

Or that you are seeing the world turn from the true God

And lets face it, that is frustrating

Then immediately following this Elijah calls out the 450 prophets of Baal to test their god and he will show that God is the one true God

We know what happens right

The 450 prophets call on Baal and cut themselves

Elijah then mocks them, and encourages them to call louder that maybe their god is asleep

Then Elijah calls on the name of the Lord and the Lord answers and sends fire down

The people realized that God is the one true God

Elijah calls them to seize the prophets of baal and he slaughters them all

1 Kings 19:2–3 NASB95

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

Jezebel sendds message to Elijah that she will kill him know because of what he did

Elijah is arfaid and runs for his life

The only prophet of the one true God is afraid and frustrated

Elijah may have thought everything is on his shoulders

Elijah may have thought he had just done some amazing work for the Lord

Frustrated enough that he wanted to die

1 Kings 19:4–8 NASB95

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” 5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” 6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

But God is not done with Him

Enough though Elijah is frustrated and feels so alone

God is not done with him, and he is not alone

Elijah is obedient and goes on a walk 40 days and 40 nights

Now Elijah has an encoutaer with the Living God

God asks him what he is doing there

Elijah gives God some sort of an answer more of a wo is me answer

1 Kings 19:10 NASB95

10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Look at everything I have done God

I wonder if we have ever done the same thing

Been so frustrated, so worried, so concerned that everything rests on your shoulders and that if you slip up everything will come crashing down

Or so frustrated that the world around you seems to be going father and father away from God

Then you wonder off into a pitty filled walk away and God says what are you doing here and then you put your Jesus level shirt on and tell God everything you have done for him

I am betting that you have maybe been there

Elijah then goes and meets God

But Elijah was looking for God in great mighty wind but he wasn’t there

Elijah was looking for God in earthquak but he wasn’t there

Elijah then looked for God in fire but he wasn’t there

Elijah then found God in the still small voice

The great and mighty powerful God was found in the still small voice

And if that is not amazing enough

God then sends Elijah out to do business

1 Kings 19:15–18 NASB95

15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 “It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. 18 “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

see God is not done with Elijah

God is not done with you or me

When we are in those places, we do what we know we should be doing

We remain persistent, we continue to read and pray

church please hear me in this

You and I need to remain connected to God

The way we remain connected with God is to read His word

Tony Evans says this “Many people treat church like a membership at a gym. They are a member, but they never go. Then wonder why they are not spiritually fit.”

We are like Elijah, thinking we are doing wonderful things for God and then when the struggle happens tuck our tail and run and hide because we aren’t spiritually fit

But we haven’t remained connected to God

Psalm 119:9 NASB95

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.

we must be reading the Word of God so that we can stay connected

So that when those tribulations come like we talked on Wednesday at the business meeting

When the troubles of life come and they will come

remaining connected to God through his word is what will get you through it

To remain persistent in reading of God’s word

Church even if you don’t want to get up and read your Bible

Listen to me

Get up and read your Bible

Thats what it is to be persistent

Church it is getting away like Jesus got away to spend time with God the father

throughout the Gospels we read accounts of Jesus going off by himself to spend time with God the father

Mark 1:35 NASB95

35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

Church please listen to me again

Even when you don’t want to get up and spend time with Jesus

Even when you think everything will come crashing down if you take time away

Take time away, not to do what you want but to spend time with Jesus so that your cup can be filled up

When your cup is full, you are prepared to go and serve and be obedient to the call of God

I think we like to sit and complain like Elijah

And wallow in our self pity

You know what we need to be doing

We need to be reading and praying

Even when it fills like our prayers are hitting the ceiling

Even if we can only get through a verse

Church we remain persistent to connecting with God