Why Are You Here? (Pastor Greg Hudson, 02/22/25)

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

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. We usually look

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

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 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12, and this is from the message

Romans 12 · chapter mention

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

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

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.