Untitled Sermon (5)

Good morning and welcome to another week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we could be joined together and worship this morning. This morning i want to share with you one of the great memories of growing up in the church.

One of the Great Stories

You see growing up in the church it wasn’t unusual to go to Sunday school. In sunday school growing up in the late 80s and the early 90s i remember the old flannel graphs that teachers would use to share the stories of the Bible. From Creation, to Noah, to storeis about Moses all the well known stories were shared.

There was one story though that i remember because it always was a reminder about how awesome God’s power was. It was a story that stood out to me because it truly showed the absolute raw power of God.

The Story of Elijah at Mount Carmel.

Now i know not everyone may be familiar with this story but it is truly amazing.

Elijah had asked for all the people of Israle to be called to gether and assemble on Mount Carmel. He had come to this show down to prove once and for all who was the one true God. Baal or Yahweh. He threw down the challenge and boy was it a big one.

1 Kings 18:22–39 NIV

22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

Can you imagine that for just a moment. Really Picture it in your mind. Two altars one with a regular sacrifice. One with the same sacrifice and soaked in water so much water that it was pooled on the ground and in an instant after a prayer a fire came that not only burned up the sacrifice it...

1 Kings 18:38 NIV

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

It took everything!

This was a great victory right.

The people believed and all was well…Or was it.

Elijah Runs

Elijah had this great victory but he ran. See right after this all happened Ahab the King of Israel tells his wife Jezebel all that happened. Jezebel was a worshiper of Baal. She sent a message to Elijah. IN a nut shell she said you better run I am coming for you. Elijah runs!

After all this Elijah runs.

After some time traveling into the wilderness he sat down in the shade of a shrub and he prayed to God for something.

1 Kings 19:4 NIV

4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Elijah was defeated

I can only imagine what was going through Elijah’s mind at this moment. How could he who had done such a great and wondrous act be so afraid and so defeated? He was so downcast that he wanted to die.

Have you ever felt that way before. Going through life and something goes great. Your plans work out. Things are looking good and than one bad thing happens and it all shatters. You can’t shake it you fall hard and it feels even harder because you were so high up when you fell.

I imagine that is what Elijah was going through in those moments. He was so high up on the mountain and was confident and than he stumbled.

God sustains

Thankfully sometimes God knows what we need more than we do. Elijah wanted to die. God saw it for what it was. He sent an Angel to his servant.

1 Kings 19:5–7 NIV

5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

God gave Elijah some rest and he gave him some food. It is funny to think of how often sometimes we just need a nap and a good meal to help us be strengthened. God was there for him. He gave him the strength that he needed to make the journey that was in front of him. Elijah was strengthened and he traveled for 40 days and nights and reached Horeb, the mountain of God. You might recognize this mountain from Moses and the place that the Ten commandments were given. There Elijah finds a cave and goes to sleep.

The Great question

Elijah fearful and on the run tries to escape. he is in a state of despair and uncertainty. He finds himself in the place that God has encountered his people before. He is on the mountain side when he is asked a simple question.

What are you doing here?

I thought a lot about this question this week. I kept coming back to this question. I am not sure why but i just kept coming back to it. God wanted to know why Elijah was here. What are you doing? Elijah repsonds to God with a Broken heart.

1 Kings 19:10 NIV

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

he is broken and defeated They are out to kill me even though i serve you. God decides to remind him and give him an amazing display of the relationships that God shares with us.

1 Kings 19:11–13 NIV

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I had never picked up on it before today. You see the truth is that when many of us read this passage we focus in on the presence of the Lord. The fact that God came in the still small whisper. That comforts us it gives us peace knowing that God doesn’t have to come in big miraculous ways but he is there whispering to us and encouraging us. It was here though that I saw it again. The Question.

What are you doing here?

After all this The same question comes again. Elijah has just been witness to the presence of God. He has once again been a part of one of the most amazing signs of God and witnesses of God’s might power. Yet God asks him again. What are you doing here? Elijah responds.

1 Kings 19:14 NIV

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Elijah still thinks he is alone. Yet, God calls him to go and to annoint his successors. Elijah thought he was alone he thought there was no hope. God was asking him to see the hope that could be found in Him.

It was that question that kept coming to mind.

What are you doing here?

I realized why this question was so powerful. It was God calling Elijah out of the pit of depression. Out of the place of fear that was crippling him. God was calling for him to see that he wasn’t alone. That God was there with him. Not only was God with Him but there were 3 to be anointed to reclaim God’s leadership in the land. Also, there were 7,000 who never kneeled before baal.

It is here that we can see that sometimes we are like Elijah. We can’t escape our own fears and depression to see what God is calling us to. We can’t see that there is help. That there are others around us wanting to help and provide. Sustaining doesn’t just come from God but comes from the community around us if only we ware willing to see it. It is in the darkness that we lose sight of all those who are there to help.

I am here to call you to remind you that no matter what is going on in your life that he is there for you. In the fire, in the earthquakes, and even in the still small whisper God is calling you to sustain you. Not only that but you aren’t alone. We are bonded together as brothers and sisters in Christ when we call on his name and we need to be reaching with an open hand to lift each other up in our darkest hours. This is the joy this morning that God’s love for us is so much that he will provide and his Body the church will be there for us. We are called to that hope and joy this morning.

Let’s Pray.