Anybody know what the tallest, the highest place
on earth is? Mount what? Mount Everest, that
is correct. Mount Everest is the tallest place
on earth. Well, I got to see if I have my sermon
in here or not. All right, we'll go for it. The
tallest place on earth is Mount Everest. Anybody
know how high? 29, over 29 ,000, over 8 ,000
meters. And if you get over 8 ,000 meters, mountains
that tall, they have a certain name. It's kind
of a scary name. Anybody know what that's called
when you get above 8 ,000 meters? It's called
the zone of death because it's so high up, there's
not very much oxygen there. And so if you wanted
to climb Mount Everest, you could do it. It would
probably cost you maybe $50 ,000 to get the permits,
to get the equipment, to get the guides and so
forth. But you could hire that, and with some
training, you could make it up to the top. Got
up there to 29 ,000 feet. I imagine it's an incredible
view. It's an incredible, strenuous workout that
it would take as you were on the highest place
on the planet. But in that accomplishment, you
would also be passing by the lowest place that
some people have suffered. In that journey to
the top of Mount Everest and back, you would
pass by at least 200 bodies, 200 people, making
that journey, making that expedition. And because
of the danger zone, because of where they're
at, oftentimes they just leave them there because
logistically it's too dangerous, it's too hard,
it's too challenging to bring them back down.
And so there's bodies that you pass by. So as
you're reaching that highest of highs, you're
also seeing the results of people who were very,
very motivated, who were very, very in shape,
who were very, very fit, and yet they suffered
the lowest of lows while trying to accomplish
that highest of highs. With that in mind, we're
going to jump back to our story of Elijah. This
is our third sermon that we've been talking about
the prophet Elijah and first kings. We're going
to have one more sermon about Elijah in two weeks
as we're going to talk about the spirit and the
power of Elijah and what that means in our world
today. But just a little bit of review in case
you haven't been here. Last time, two weeks ago,
we talked about Elijah and he met... King Ahab
and all the prophets of Baal, and he met them
upon Mount Carmel, not Mount Everest, but Mount
Carmel, and there was a conflict, there was a
duel, a confrontation, and as Elijah prayed,
God sent fire down from heaven, and all the people
said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.
And then that evening after Elijah prayed, something
happened that hadn't happened in three and a
half years. It rained. The drought was finished
as the rain poured, as the water came from the
earth. That drought was ended. And so then Elijah,
we didn't talk about this, but Elijah ran in
front of King Ahab's chariot. He guided him back
to the city. So he ran about 20 miles in front
of this chariot to make sure that the king would
be able to get back where he needed to go, even
in the midst of this. So he had this incredible
spiritual high, the highest you could possibly
be. And he may have thought that from that point
on, that everybody would respond, that everywhere
he went, they would say, oh, that's the prophet
of God, that's the one that prayed, and fire
came down from heaven, and yet he experienced
something very different. He may have been anticipating
that when he walked into the city, it would be
like the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, in downtown
Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and they had, what
did they have? A parade, a Super Bowl parade,
a ticker tape parade that everybody would cheer
and celebrate, but that's not what he got. Almost
immediately that very evening, King Ahab told
his wife Jezebel what had happened to her prophets
of Baal. and she was not happy. She was upset,
and she sent a threat to Elijah. Notice 1 Kings
19. 1 Kings 19 and verse 2 is where we're going
to pick up the story. 1 Kings 19 and verse 2.
We see what Jezebel said to the prophet Elijah.
1 Kings 19, it says, when she heard it, then
Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so
let the gods do to me, just like you killed the
prophets of Baal, and more also, if I do not
make your life as one of them by tomorrow about
this time. In other words, Elijah, just like
the prophets of Baal are dead, you're going to
be dead. That was the threat. You are going to
die. You are going to be killed. You are going
to be wiped out. And so immediately from this
spiritual high of God sending fire down from
heaven, immediately he finds something else.
He finds this threat. He finds this pressure.
He's threatened with death. And what does he
do? We're going to read it in just a few verses,
but Elijah, he runs away. He flees. Now think
what Elijah had seen. Every time God had called
Elijah, he had responded. When God told him to
go before the king, he went before King Ahab
and he said, it's not going to rain for three
and a half years. When God sent him to the brook,
he went to the brook and he was fed by the ravens.
And then he was blessed by the widow. He even
was involved in a resurrection. He had raised
that widow's child from the dead. He was seeing
the miracles of God. He'd seen the fire fall
down from heaven, but one threat, and that was
all it took. One threat, and he went in the other
direction. And we could say, Elijah, hadn't you
seen all these things? Elijah, how could you
run away? Why not ask God for something in this
moment and in this time. We've talked about how
Elijah, the Bible says clearly, is a man just
like us. And just like us, there are spiritual
highs and there are spiritual lows. And just
like us, there's times when we're closer to God
and there's times perhaps when we're further
from God. We all have spiritual highs and lows.
So I've got a challenge, a project for you. You
could do it. today. You could do it right now
if you wanted, but maybe a time of worship. You
could just kind of think back over your life.
Maybe think back over your past year. So if you
were to just make a little chart on the one side,
you could have today. That's today. And then
on the other side of the graph, you could go
back through your life or maybe just back one
year, February of 2024. And then think about
your life. Has there been moments over the last
year when you have felt closer to God? Have there
been moments of the last year when you have felt
further away from God? Maybe your chart would
look something like this, something like your
EKG if you go to the doctor's office, your heart
rhythm right there, because that's how our life
is. That's how we live, that sometimes Some moments,
some incidents, we just see God showing up in
our life, and we see him at work, and we see
his activity, and we can bring glory and praise
to him. But then there's other moments when something
happens. Maybe it's something at your job, or
maybe you've lost that job. Or maybe it's something
from your doctor's office, some report that you
got, or some conflict that you're having in some
sort of relationship, a spouse, a parent, a child.
And for whatever reason, sometimes we feel close
to God, and sometimes we feel further away from
God. But the good news is that our salvation
is not based on this chart of your life. That's
not what our salvation is based on. In fact,
in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it says, it is by grace
you have been saved through faith, not by works,
not by charts, not by spiritual highs or lows.
It is by grace you have been saved through faith,
not of works, lest anyone should boast. Our salvation
is not based on whether today We're having a
spiritual high or a spiritual low. Our salvation
is based on what Jesus has done for us. And the
fact of the matter is that no matter where we
are, the closer we get to God, that just means
the devil's going to, he doesn't like that. He's
going to work all the harder. Somebody in Sabbath
school said he's going to throw snowballs at
you when you feel close to God. But that's not
what gives us salvation, but it is the grace
of God. that gives us salvation in our life.
And so we recognize that Elijah had highs and
he had lows. He had seen miracles, but think
to different Bible stories. The Israelites, they
had seen God work so many miracles in Egypt.
They had come through the Red Sea that was parted.
They had seen God showing up to them in so many
ways, but so often the first challenge that they
had, oh, could we please go back to Egypt? They
had, you know, cucumbers that we could eat or
whatever it was. They'd seen miracles, but they
were ready to turn around so quick. Or think
of Peter. He's walking on the water as his eyes
are fixed upon Jesus. But then as his heart gets
full of his own pride and he turns back, hey
guys, look what I'm doing. He takes his eyes
off of Jesus and immediately, He sinks. He's
seen miracles. He's doing something powerful,
and yet he turns and walks the other direction.
Here's a thought from a book called Prophets
and Kings about this story. It says, Elijah should
not have fled from his post of duty. He should
have met the threat of Jezebel with an appeal
for the protection of one who had commissioned
him to vindicate the honor of Jehovah. the Lord
would have given him another signal victory by
sending his judgments on Jezebel, and the impression
on the king and the people would have wrought
a great reformation. Elijah worked powerfully
for God, but it could have been even more powerful
had he chosen to stand there and say, God, help
me. God, deliver me. But as soon as he was attacked,
In this moment, instead of calling on God as
he had done before, this time he ran. He started
running. He ran from Jezreel through Samaria,
that northern kingdom that we talked about, and
he ran all the way to Beersheba. That's like
100 miles. That's like four marathons that he
ran because he wanted to get out of there. When
he saw that threat, it says in verse 3, He arose
and ran for his life, and he went to Beersheba,
which belongs to Judah. But even then, he didn't
stop. He went to Beersheba. Maybe his servant
couldn't keep up. I don't know, but he left his
servant there, and it says he went another day's
journey by himself into the wilderness. He was
getting as far away as he could. He went another
day's journey, and he sat down under a broom
tree, a shade tree. And he prayed. He finally
prayed. He prayed to God in this moment under
the shade tree after running 100 miles plus a
day. But notice what his prayer is. It's enough.
Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than
my father's. When he finally turns to God, when
he finally prays his prayer, is that God is going
to take his life. He's hopeless. He's depressed.
He seemingly can't see through the fog of this
threat. He's forgetful about how God has worked
with him, about how God has blessed him. He forgot
all of that, and he's focused on this one threat.
So he'd had this incredible spiritual high, and
now he's having this incredible spiritual low.
And I imagine he's worn out. He's tired. Anybody
ever get worn out or tired? Anybody ever forget
what God has done for you in the past? And we
get thinking about ourself and thinking about
our own challenges? There's a word that we sometimes
use called burnout. Anybody ever heard of that?
Anybody ever experienced that? What does that
mean? Well, if you look up the definition, the
first definition may not be quite what we're
looking for today. The cessation of operation
usually of a jet or rocket engine. A rocket streaming
through the sky and the engine shuts off, it
burns out. But maybe that is a good example.
But it's the second definition that says the
exhaustion of physical or emotional strength
or motivation, usually as a result of prolonged
stress or frustration. Maybe that is something
that we have experienced. Maybe that is something
we've seen in our own life or seen. in the life
of somebody else. Maybe we've experienced that
prolonged stress. Maybe we've experienced that
frustration and maybe like that rocket streaking
through the sky that shuts off. Maybe that's
what happens to us sometimes. And maybe that's
what happened to Elijah. He got burned out as
we so often do. I think to our scripture that
Riley did an amazing job reading for us. Isaiah
chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. We usually look
at the last couple verses of this, but starting
in verse 28, it says, Have you not known? Have
you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord,
the creator of the ends of the earth, neither
faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
We get tired. We get weary. We get sick. but
God doesn't. And then it says he gives power
to the weak. To those who have no might, he increases
strength. The next couple of verses say, even
the youth and the young men shall faint and be
weary, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew
their strength. They shall mount up with wings
like eagles. They shall walk and not faint. That's
what God wants to do for us. He's not going to
faint and grow weary, but he's going to give
us strength as we have times of need. There's
another really cool verse in Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12, and this is from the message
version, just because I like the way it reads,
the message paraphrase. It says, don't burn out.
Keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants
of the master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit
in hard times, but pray all the harder. Help
needy Christians be inventive in hospitality.
I like that. How can we be inventive in our hospitality?
What can we do to keep ourselves fueled and aflame
and not burn out? Well, we need to be alert servants
of the master. Elijah in this moment was not
feeling that. Elijah wanted... to die. Elijah
was not ready for this moment. He wanted to die.
But notice what happens back in 1 Kings chapter
19 and verse 5. He prayed, Lord, take my life.
But thankfully, God didn't answer that prayer.
But it says, then as he lay and slept under a
broom tree, he wanted to die, but he went to
sleep instead. I think that was a better option.
And as he slept, I want you to notice what God
did not do. God did not condemn him. God did
not come down with a mighty hand of judgment.
God did not punish him. God did not smite him
down. And thankfully, God did not answer that
prayer. That's what God did not do. But look
what God did. An angel came to him. And touched
him, maybe shook him on the shoulder just a little
bit as he's snoozing. And he said to him, arise,
get up. We've got some food here. And then he
looked and there by his head was a cake baked
on coals and a jar of water. And so he ate and
drank and he lay down again. He was tired. He
was worn out. Could it be? That at least sometimes
when we find ourself running away from God, could
it be that the thing that we need the most is
a nap? We need to get some more sleep. We need
to go to bed a little bit earlier. We need to
sleep in a little bit because maybe we've worn
ourself out. And that's, in a sense, that's what
Sabbath is all about. It's a day to unplug. It's
a day to rest. It's a day to connect with God.
And not just sleep, but also some food here.
And with food, we need to make sure that we're
putting healthy food in. So he's got bread, some
versions say. New King James says cake that was
provided by an angel. Angel food. Cake? Maybe
that's too easy. I don't know. But he had some
food and he needed some rest. Could it be that
when we're depressed, when we're confused, we
need to step back and we need to rest before
we jump to conclusions, before we make decisions
in the heat of a moment, before we say words
to a family member or an employee or an employer?
that we're going to regret at a later moment.
Maybe we need to step back from the situation
and have a little rest to prevent a breakdown
or a burnout. So he ate and drank. And it says
he lay down again. He needed some more rest.
He needed some more sleep. Notice verse 7. It
says the angel of the Lord came back the second
time and touched him, woke him up, and said,
Arise and eat. because the journey is too great.
He had a journey that he was going to continue
on, and it was too great for him to go in his
own strength. And so in verse 8, it says, the
angel of the, so he arose. Sorry, I didn't hit
the button. So he arose and ate and drank, and
he went in the strength of that food, that food,
a couple meals, a couple heavenly meals, 40 days
and 40 nights. as far as Horeb, the mountain
of God. So he had gone from Jezreel to Beersheba,
but now he goes on down even further, down to
Mount Horeb, which there's a debate here, but
many people feel that this is likely the same
mountain as Mount Sinai. It may be, it may not
be. People aren't entirely sure, but that's over
250 miles through mountainous area, through a
wilderness area. And he went on this food for
40 days and 40 night to the mountain of God,
to the mountain where Moses had seen the burning
bush. And God had said, take off your shoes.
This is holy ground. To the mountain where Moses
had hit the rock. and water had flown out to
the mountain, perhaps, where God had met Moses
and given him the Ten Commandments. But he went
there to this mountain of Moses, to this mountain
of God, and God meets Elijah there. And he asked
him a question. It's not, why do you have the
giggles? He asked him the question in verse 9.
He says, what are you doing here, Elijah? Why
are you here? What are you doing here? And Elijah
seems to really just give an excuse. If you look
at Elijah's response in verse 10, I've been very
zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children
of Israel. They have forsaken your covenant and
torn down your altars and killed your prophets
with the sword, and I alone am left. And now
they seek my life. They wanted to kill me. I'm
the last one. And that's why I have ran. A hundred
miles plus a day plus 250 miles. That's why I'm
here. That's why I am in this place. And then
God asks Elijah to do something. God meets him
there and he tells him to stand on the mountain.
Stand on the mountain before the Lord. This is
very similar to what God said to Elijah, excuse
me, to Moses when God was going to show Moses
his... at least a part of it. He shows him his
back, it says. But notice what happens here in
verse 11. 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.
Anybody was here when, I don't know, a tornado
blew through this area not too many years ago?
Or maybe you've been in Florida when a hurricane,
or even in Georgia or North Carolina when a hurricane
has come through. You can see the damage, the
impact that wind can have. And that's what happens
here. But it says the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind... An earthquake. The earth
shook. Anybody lived in California or someplace
where sometimes those buildings begin to rock
back and forth? But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire. Anybody turned
on the news and seen fires raging through the
mountains of California or buildings or whatever?
But the Lord was not in the fire. And then it
says, after the fire, a still, small voice. Verse
13 says, so it was when Elijah heard it. He heard
the voice. He heard the voice of God. The voice
of God was not in those miraculous events of
earthquake, wind, fire. Sometimes God does show
up in the miraculous event. In the chapter right
before this, fire fell down from heaven. But
more often, we're not going to see God in some
sort of miraculous way. We're not going to see
God in the loud. We're not going to see God in
the extreme, but we're going to see God in the
quiet. We're going to see God in the solitude.
Think again to Moses. He'd spent 40 years in
the wilderness, tending sheep by himself, and
that's where God showed up to him. Think to Daniel
before he was in the lion's den. He was spending
time with God each and every day. Think even
to the life of Jesus while he walked on this
earth. It says that he would get up before dawn.
He would get up early in the morning to spend
time with his heavenly Father. I think that in
our world today, there's not a lot of quiet.
There's not a lot of solitude. I saw something
recently that said it used to be like back in
around 1968, if you wanted to go out into nature
and record nature sounds without any, you know,
motors or engines or anything like that, it would
take you about 15 hours of recording time to
get one hour of just straight nature sounds.
But now it takes about 2 ,000 hours of recording
time. to get one hour of just nature. Because
almost anywhere you go, even in the mountains
of Appalachia or wherever, you're hardly ever
more than one mile from a road. And if you look
up, you're probably going to see a plane flying
overhead. It's hard to get silence in our world
today. Sometimes I drive through the campus up
at Southern. And I always see the students, and
there's a couple things they have in common.
One, they always have their book bags on, and
they look huge and giant. But the other thing
that almost all of them have are headphones.
Even when they're walking to class, they're walking
with their friends, but they're listening to
something else. And I can't point fingers because
I do the same thing when I'm in the car. I've
got some music playing or an audio book playing.
podcast playing or even an audio Bible. Something
is playing. There's almost always some sort of
noise, some sort of thing that is filling my
head and filling my mind. Even when we go to
bed, we live on a road and you can hear traffic
or sometimes a siren or a train. And so whenever
I come into the room, I turn on a little box
fan. Just so there's some constant, some white
noise, something, that soft, steady noise that's
going to hopefully drown out those bigger noises.
Could it be that we're filling our life with
so many other little noises? Could it be that
sometimes we're blocking out that most important
noise, that voice of God, which comes most often
as a still, small. voice. What does God say to
us? Like in Psalm 46, 10, God says, be still
and know that I am God. Do we take time to be
still? Or what did Jesus say in the New Testament
in Matthew 11, 28? Come to me, all you who are
weary and heavy laden, all you who are busy.
All you who are trying to drown me out in other
ways, come to me and I am going to give you the
rest that you need. Perhaps it's the physical
rest, but perhaps it's the spiritual rest. A
question for you, does your life, does your schedule
look like God's voice is the most important thing
for you? Or if other people would be looking
at it, would they say, I don't know, maybe Greg's
trying to drown that out with Netflix or whatever
it is. Is God's voice the most important thing
for you? It's interesting that God asked Elijah
the exact same question that he asked before.
He said, Elijah, what are you doing here? The
exact same question. And Elijah gives the exact
same answer. They've torn down your altars. They've
killed the prophets. And now they're after me.
I'm the only one left. Even after hearing God's
voice, Elijah gives the same response. And maybe
God asked that question to us. What are you doing
here? And that here could be wherever. If you're
at work, what are you doing here to tune in?
to God's voice. When you're at home with your
family, what are you doing here to tune in to
God's voice? Or maybe even at church, what are
you doing here to make sure that you're connected
with God, to tune in to God? And we can see how
God responded. He didn't take that as an answer.
He said, nope, that's not how it's going to be.
And the Lord said to him, he gave him some more
assignments. He gave him some more direction.
In verse 15, the Lord God said to him, go, you're
supposed to leave this mountain. You came here,
but I still got somewhere, something for you
to do. You're supposed to go and you're supposed
to anoint kings and you're supposed to anoint
prophets. So he's supposed to go somewhere and
he's supposed to do something. He's supposed
to go and he's supposed to anoint people. And
then God says, you're not alone. I have reserved.
There's at least 7 ,000 people who have not bowed
to Baal. There's at least 7 ,000 people who are
still serving me. And so he gave him instruction
and he gave him assurance. And perhaps that's
what we need sometime. We need to be reminded
to go and that we've got something to do. And
we need to be reminded that we're not alone and
that we have a mission. So when you're feeling
depressed, when you're feeling on the edge of
burnout, or maybe when you're feeling in the
midst of burnout, you can remember, as we see
here, that God is there. God is still present
in your life, even if you may or may not recognize
it. God is still there. And not only that, but
others are here. That's as we sit in this place
like this, you can look around and you can see
people that care about you and people that will
pray for you and people that will uplift you
just as they hope that you will do for them.
That's what a church is. That's what a church
family is. We can remember that God is there
and we can remember that others are here taking
care of each other. And then finally, we can
remember that we each have a mission. We each
have something that God has invited us to do.
We each have something that we can complete for
God with God's help. If I may close with one
story from history, from church history. The
year was 1852, and this was before there was
even a Seventh -day Adventist church had officially
formed, but there were several ministers, preachers
who were going different places trying to tell
people about the Bible and the Sabbath and salvation
and different things like that. And a couple
of them left Michigan where they were and they
decided we're going to go over to Iowa, the state
of Iowa, because they had heard that there was
people there that needed to hear about God and
they could... They could farm, and they could
tell people about God. And so a group of about
30 made their way from Michigan to Iowa and started
to work. But they were working, but they got
busy with the working, and they forgot the part
about telling people about Jesus because they
were so busy with planting, with farming, with
carpentry. Some of them were building and different
things. And one of them was a gentleman named
John Loughborough, J .N. Loughborough. And he
was working as a carpenter, and he had been a
minister. And finally, some of the leaders of
the church back in Michigan said, you know what,
we need these guys. These guys need to be doing
something. And so James White and his wife Ellen,
they got into their sleigh. It was cold. It was
wintertime. They got into their sleigh, and the
horse... pulled them across the snow from Michigan,
and they came to a barrier, big body of water
known as the Mississippi River, and it was iced
over. But it wasn't iced as much as it could
have been, but they said, you know what, God
has sent us on this mission, and so they went
across the Mississippi River, and they show up
to the town in Iowa, and they... come to John
Loughborough, and John Andrews was another that
was in that group, and they ask a question. And
it was a question that we've just heard God ask.
They said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? What
doest thou hear, Elijah? What are you doing here?
You've got something else you're supposed to
be doing. You've got somewhere else that God
has wanted you to serve, that God has wanted
you to work. With that invitation, with that
confrontation, John Loughborough, it says that
he laid down, this is what he said, I have laid
down my hammer and I have driven my last nail.
And he began to serve and began to minister.
And when the call came, we need somebody to go
to California, which was the wilderness back
then, he and his wife were the first ones to
volunteer. and went and took a gospel message
and a message of the Sabbath to California. And
one of the other ministers that were there, John
Andrews, was the first to go overseas with a
message of the Sabbath. And so we can ask ourselves
the question, what are you doing here? And we
can remember that God is with you, that God is
here, that God is in your life. And you can remember
that others are here, that we can pray for each
other and encourage each other. And you can ask
God, God, what is your mission for me? What would
you have me to do? Let's bow our heads for prayer.
Dear God, what an incredible story of Elijah
that even though he had done so much that was
so good, he had moments when, like us, he had
a spiritual letdown. And yet you continued to
call him, continued to love him. Continue to
encourage him and use him. And Lord, forgive
us for the times when we have spiritual highs
and spiritual lows, but let us remember your
grace and let us be used by you in all that we
do. In your name we pray, amen.