All the Time - Christmas Eve 2021 Service - LakeRidge Methodist Church

All the Time - Christmas Eve 2021 Service

December 24, 2021 • Lyndol Loyd • Matthew 1:21–23

Immanuel: God with Us - All the Time
What if you knew that God was present with you? What if you knew it for sure? What would you think? What would you do? What would you say? What would you attempt? What would you believe?
How do you think that would change your life right now in this moment if you knew it? How do you think it might change your life tomorrow? Next year?
That may seem like a crazy concept to consider that God is actually present with you, but it’s true. As odd as it might seem, it’s true. Let me explain why some of you are having a difficult time accepting that, believing that, feeling that – that God is with you.
Let me use a story to explain. Have you ever paid close attention to the labels on products? Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. If you don’t you might want to start. A few years ago Old Spice High Endurance Deodorant had a very interesting label on the back of their deodorant sticks. It read…
“Contains odor fighting atomic robots that shoot lasers at your stench monsters and replaces them with fresh, clean, masculine scent elves.”
Now we all know that some elves work for Santa, some elves live on a shelf and that other elves live in trees where they make cookies and crackers, but who knew that there were elves that make it their job to keep your armpits smelling good?
Some of you are thinking, “Where on earth is he going with this?” I promise there really is a point to my story. Here it is: We really never know that we have deodorant on or not unless we begin to smell like we don’t have it on. Most of us don’t walk around thinking about our deodorant and how wonderful it is. We only think of our deodorant if it isn’t doing its job or until we begin to smell like we didn’t remember to put any on in the first place.
Here’s the deal. God is present everywhere. He’s around always. However, most of the time we don’t really sit around and talk about his presence until our lives begin to smell like he isn’t there. Until our lives begin to reek of things that make us ask “Where’s God? He must be absent.” Assuming that if he were present we wouldn’t be going through what we are going through – the pain you feel, the suffering, the challenges, the hurt you are facing.
We hear of horrible news like another school shooting, a natural disaster, something really horrific and we ask, “Where’s God?” because life is beginning to smell like he must not be around. You know what I’m talking about, things like…
• When you find out your teenager is involved with the wrong crowd and using substances he has no business being involved with.
• When your caller ID on your phone shows up as your doctor’s office calling to let you know that the results of your blood work aren’t what you need for them to be.
• When someone you always thought of as a friend betrays your trusts and does something that breaks your heart.
Sometimes life just stinks and it causes you to ask, “Where are you God?”
Some of you may be here tonight to make someone important in your life happy. You don’t consider yourself to be Christian, but you wanted to be with the rest of the family or told friends that you would come with them.
Maybe the reason you have avoided church in the past is because you have looked around and said, “Well if God is with us… then why that? And why this? And why that?”
And you know what? I can understand why you might feel that way. I think you’ve got a good point… as far as feelings go. But the truth is, God is with us. He is present with us. As a matter of fact, God went to great lengths; he went to a whole lot of trouble to communicate just how present he is with us.
You see, being present with us isn’t just what God does. It is actually who he is. We learn this from the Christmas story. Let me take us to the
Bible, to Matthew 1:21-23 where we find this account, “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
It’s not just what God the Father did in sending Jesus. It is actually who he is. Remember the story of his arrival in Bethlehem. The angels come to the shepherds and tell them that there is a Savior who has been born and he will be the King of the Jews. The angels tell them where he is. The shepherds come. They find Mary and Joseph. They find the baby Jesus lying in the manger.
His birth announcement happens so that everyone would know that God has come in flesh and bone, in the person of Jesus Christ, to us. His name alone illustrates it – Immanuel, God with us.
It lets us know that God is touchable… is knowable… is close. God is with us. He is present.
For 33 years on this earth Jesus lived and the last three of those years he ministered and met needs, loved people, showed grace to people and taught people and prepared the world for the greatest event this world has ever seen – even greater than his birth in Bethlehem was the day he died for our sin and even greater, the day he arose from the grave. He did all of that to illustrate that He is with us, that he is present.
God is still present with us. Jesus isn’t physically on the earth. He went back to Heaven, but he left us his Spirit. He’s still very present with us.
I know that life can often reek like he’s gone. Sometimes life just stinks and there is no way to live it without getting it on you. There is no way to go through this life and come out squeaky clean on the other side.
Some of you showed up here tonight and you carried the mess of your life in the door with you. More than anything you need to know this:
God is with you. I don’t know what is going on in your life. I don’t what challenges you are facing. I don’t know what you are staring down right now.
Maybe this is the first time you have been to church in a very long time. You’ve been going through so much and you would love to know that God is with you.
You need to know that God is present and that we often see God’s presence with us the very most at the point of our need, the point of our pain, in our mess, in our crisis, in our inadequacies, in our challenges, in our difficulties – that’s the time when he seems most absent, but that’s the time when he is actually most present.
You see his presence. You sense his presence. As a matter of fact, it is your story. Listen to people talk and you’ve heard stories like this – a lot of you have. If you haven’t had a story like this then you’ve heard people say things like, “I would never want to go back and do that again” as they refer to a painful time in their lives. “I would never want to go back and do that again. But let me tell you something, I learned so much through that experience.” You ever heard someone say something like that?
If you’re not a Christian that might sound sort of weird. You might be thinking that sounds strange.
But the truth is that it is often in these sorts of circumstances where God show up the most – right smack dab in the middle of the mess – your mess, my mess.
I can tell you my own story. The times when I have felt and experienced the presence of God the most has been in the middle of the messes of my life.
You might ask, “So where was God on 9/11? Where was God when that drunk driver killed my friend? Where was God when the tornadoes blew through Arkansas, Kentucky and Illinois?” Those are good questions. I mean innocent lives were lost in those situations, and at face value it
certainly seems that God must have been absent. He must have been doing something else. He must have checked out.
What we have to know is that God’s presence is not determined by the absence of pain or evil. God’s presence is actually seen the most right in the middle of all of this.
So where was God? God was there in the first responders who rushed to the scene of each of these tragedies. God was there in the people who ignored their own need in order to help meet the needs of others they didn’t even know. God was there in the people who showed up afterwards to give love and care. God showed up in the prayers of people all across the world.
Now, how is God with you? How is he there in your own mess? In your own inadequacies? In your own crisis? How do you see God? In those times you may want to look at your life and say, “Where is he? Where is he? He’s gone.”
No, no, no. You see God show up in the life of that person that God has brought into your life to listen to you, to help you, to serve you, to care for you, to encourage you.
God shows up in that person that is able to make you laugh when you really do need to laugh. He shows up in that song you hear on the radio at just the right time. He shows up in that Bible verse that you come across or just happen to see at just the right moment and you think, “I needed that.”
God shows up in the words, “I’m sorry” from the person who has hurt you. God shows up in the words, “I forgive you” from the person who you hurt. God shows up in the hug, the smile, the togetherness of a family, or friends who encourage you.
God shows up in his Spirit that is always with us. You see God is our Emmanuel, which means that he is always with us. He will be with you. He is with me. He will be with us. Even when your life and my life smells like he
is gone, he is not. He is with us. In these moments it is when he tends to show up the biggest, the brightest and the best.
What if you knew that God was present with you? What if you really, really knew it? How do you think that would change the way you see whatever it is that you are going through? Because it would. It should.
The simple truth is that we are not alone. I’m not alone. You’re not alone. You’re never alone, ever. Even when you might want to be, you’re not. He is always around looking for an opportunity to show us just how present he is.
The Greatest Display of God’s Presence
Do you know what the greatest display of God’s presence was? It wasn’t just in Bethlehem. The greatest display of God’s presence was when he made himself most present at the point of our greatest need.
Remember I said that God shows up at the point of our need? His greatest presence happened when he addressed the point of our greatest need – and that is our sin.
When Jesus died on a cross for me, for you, for us, for the sins of the world that is when God’s presence was most vividly seen. Now get this, if you were there that day standing with the crowd seeing this man named Jesus, 33 years old, dying on the cross, you are thinking, “This is bad. This is bad. Where’s God? This is a mess. This is a tragedy. God has left. God has gone.” It sure looked like it. It sure felt like it.
Actually the opposite is what is true. Jesus dying on a cross for us was the realization of why he came to us at Christmas to begin with. And in that moment although it looked horrible there was nothing more holy than what was going on that day when Jesus died for me and Jesus died for you.
God sent Jesus to be born in Bethlehem and then had him make salvation, the forgiveness of our sins possible, by dying for us. Did you hear that? Us. People like me. People like you.
When we look to what it was that Jesus did, when we look at how he was present for us and we trust him as our Savior, the forgiver of our sin, and our Lord, the leader of our lives. We put our faith and reliance in him and we are given new and eternal life. We are forgiven. We are given a fresh start.
It is why he came to be present with us.

Tells Us to Go

December 26, 2021 • Sergio Maul • Matthew 10:1–8, Matthew 28:18

In the Valley

December 19, 2021 • Lyndol Loyd • Matthew 1:23

Immanuel: God With Us — In the Valley Good morning Church! Today we're moving forward in our Advent message series, Immanuel: God With Us. Our anchor scripture is Matthew 1:23, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She'll give birth to a son, they will call Him Immanuel, which means God is with us." What we’ve been doing is talking about what it looks like for God to be with us in different seasons of life such as in the midst of a storm or when we find ourselves in the wilderness. It is easy to believe that God is with us when things are good. When you're on the mountaintop it's easy to believe that God is with us. Whenever you get really good news, when you get a raise, when your baby sleeps through the night for the first time, when you get a parking spot at the mall and it's so close, God is so good He gave me this parking spot. It's easy to sense the presence of God when things are going well. However, it can be more difficult to sense His presence when you're in the valley. When things aren't going the way you would want them to, when you get bad news. When you're hurting. Maybe when you feel a little bit alone. When you're worried, or when you're afraid, or battling depression. Today, I want to talk about God in the valleys. And what's interesting to me is so often, much of your life can be going really really well. In other words, you've got all these different pockets where you're kind of on a mountaintop. Then there's this one area that just weighs everything else down. Unfortunately some of you are there right now. Some seasons and pockets of your life are really good. Your marriage is blessed, but you've got a kid making dumb decisions and that hurts so much. You sense God's presence, but at the same time you're afraid you're gonna lose your job. Or you're really excited about the holidays, getting together with family, and yet you just got bad medical news about you or somebody else. And so there's so many good things and yet there may be one or two things that just kinda take you down in the valley. So what I want to talk about today is Where is God in those valleys? When you look at scripture, it's interesting that valleys represent several things. You see in the valleys there are often battles that took place. Some of you right now, you may be in a battle in the middle of a valley. Valleys were seasons of desperation. Valleys were seasons of loneliness. It's interesting that valleys were also a time of growth. That you may enjoy God in some ways on the mountain, but you experience Him in different ways when you're in the valley. In fact, here’s sort of a big thought to ponder today. We may enjoy God on the mountaintops, but we get to know Him intimately in the valleys. I want to look at a text from the Old Testament, Psalm 84. If you've ever read through Psalm 84, chances are you read right past these verses. If you stopped at them you may not have understood them. We're going to see where God is in the valleys. This is what Psalm 84:5-7 says, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” What is the Valley of Baka? The Valley of Baka was most likely related to a tree with a similar spelling. This tree would ooze out sap. People said the tree was called a weeper. It looked like the tree was crying. And that's why the Valley of Baka is translated in different ways in scripture. It's called the Valley of Tears or the Valley of Weeping or the Valley of Loss. Anytime you see a valley in the Bible it is a place that was dangerous. There'd be thorns. There would be people waiting to jump you and rob you. In fact, it was very difficult to get through a valley without something bad happening. This is why the Psalm says this in verse 5, “Blessed are those whose strength is found in you (God).” Now, if you aren’t a Follower of Christ and you don't know God intimately, then chances are there are times when you just say, "I've had enough, I can't do it anymore, I'm overwhelmed, I'm exhausted, I just can’t.” The truth is if you don't know God intimately, then what you have, is all you have. But for those who are Christ followers, we believe that we have a strength that goes beyond just what we have. We believe we have access to a heavenly strength and that's why the Psalm has said, "Blessed are those whose strength is found in you." We believe that when we get to the end of our strength that there is a heavenly strength. There is a divine strength. There is a strength from our God that is available to those who know Him. I’ll give you an example. Several years ago I found myself on the side of the road on my way home from a meeting because of a blowout on my front driver’s side tire. I got out of the car examined the situation and realized that I was going to have to change the tire and put on my spare. I got everything out of the trunk of my car, jacked up the car and then tried to loosen the lug nuts so I could take the old tire off. It wouldn’t budge at all. I’m giving it everything I’ve got and those lug nuts aren’t moving. I’m feeling frustrated. I’m feeling embarrassed because there is an older women from the church who is with me. I’m thinking, “Lord, I know I’m out of shape, but good grief. You would think I could take care of changing a tire.” About that time a Florida Highway Department Roadside Assistance truck pulls up behind me. The guy gets out of the truck and asks if he can be of any assistance. I’m thankful he is there, but now I’m feeling even more embarrassed thinking this grown man is going to laugh at me for not being able to change a tire. He took a quick look at the tire tool I’m using and says, let’s try my tire tool and he pulls out a professional grade tool. He takes a go at it and he can’t get the lug nuts to budge either. All of the sudden I start feeling a little bit better about myself. He’s not playing around. He goes back and gets something called a pneumatic wrench that is hooked up to a compressor on his truck and gets the lug nuts off. He looks at me and says, “You weren’t ever going to get that off by yourself without having a more powerful tool.” The irony of the situation is that the word pneumatic comes from the Greek word pneuma which mean’s “Spirit” as in the Holy Spirit. The good news is for those who are Christ followers, there is a power bigger than you. It is our God who when you hit the end of your strength, His strength is made perfect in your weakness. His strength scripture says, is made absolutely perfect. "Blessed are those whose strength is found in God.” If you're in the middle of a valley right now, you have access to the very real, ever present power of a good God who is available and ready to come and assist you in your time of need. "Blessed are those whose strength is found in God." The text doesn’t say blessed are those who make it on their own. It doesn't say blessed are those who pull themselves up by the bootstraps. It doesn't say blessed are those who are really determined. A big problem in our world today is we almost idolize a Spirit of Independence. I don't want to need anybody. I want to be financially independent. I want to be good on my own. I don't wanna trust people. I don't want people to be there for me. I don't need God, I don't need anybody. We were not created to be independent. We were created by our God to depend on Him and to depend on others. Blessed are you when you realize you are dependent and you have a power greater than yourself. Some of you, you need to lean into it. You need to just admit it. I don't have what it takes. I need His presence. "Blessed are those whose strength is found in God." I want to show you verse 5 in a different translation because I love the way the New Living Translation highlights this verse. It says, "What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who've set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem." I love that. We're on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. What does that mean? We may be in the valley, but we're going to what was known as the City of Refuge. Or we were going to the place that they call the Place of Peace. One commentary said this, "To get to the City of Refuge, you had to travel through the Valley of Tears." I like that imagery. Sometimes to get to where you really appreciate the presence and the power of God, you have to push through a little bit of the pain to get to the presence of the goodness of God. For so many, the valley is the pathway to the place of peace. We've pushed through the valley. We're on a pilgrimage. This is the way the Psalm has said it. Let me show you the first part. The psalmist said, “What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds." Everybody say “My mind is set.” Say it again, “My mind is set.” "Blessed are those who have their "minds set toward God." What you think about matters so much. What you think about matters. Paul talked about this a lot in the New Testament. To the Colossian believers he said, "Set your mind on things above, not on things below." Paul told the Philippians believer this, "If anything is excellent or praise worthy, or admirable, or lovely, think about such things." Where you are is one thing. What you think about is something else. What you think about matters. Listen, somebody needs to hear this. Your current situation may be in the valley. But your mind can still be set upon God. Your heart right now might be racing, but your mind is set. Your soul may be aching, but your mind is set. Your emotions may be racing, but your mind is fixed toward God. There may be too much to do and there may be pressure with the in-laws and you may be wondering how we're gonna pay for Christmas and on and on and on. There may be real tragedies in the valley, but my mind is set on the goodness of God. He is with me. He is for me. Greater is the one who is in me than the one who is in this world. My God is going before me to prepare a way for me. His spirit gives me strength when I am weak. I need Him every moment of every day. His words a lamp unto my feet. It is a light unto my path. When I cannot make it, His power is very very real. I may be in the valley, but my mind is set on the kingdom of God. I'm on a pilgrimage, I'm going to the place of peace. You may be in the valley but your mind is fixed. Verse 6 says, “As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs.” In other words, we may be in the valley right now, but the valley is not our destination. What are we doing? I'm just passing through. I may be in the valley right now, but this is not my home. I'm journeying to the place of peace. I'm just passing through. My God will get me through this. I'm just passing through. David said something similar in Psalm 23:4, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me.” I may be in the valley but I'm just passing through. I may be in a difficult time, but God's gonna get me through. I may be hurting right now but I'm not going to be hurting forever. My God is going to pull me through. I may be in a dark place right now, but we're just passing through the Valley of Baka. Sometimes when you're in the middle of it you just want out. Get me out God. Make it go away. Make it stop God. I don't want this anymore. Just take it away. I just want out. What you have to realize is so often God may show you that the way is through the valley, not out of the valley. I love this next phrase. "As they passed through the Valley of Baka they make it a place of springs." The King James Version says it this way, “They make it a well.” In other words, whenever you're in a dry place, what do you do? You dig a well. You make a well. You take and clear a way, a hole as a container for the provision of rain that God will send. God hasn't sent it yet. It's dry right now. But when you're dry and when you're hurting you make room for the presence of God. You make room for the provision of God. You make a well. But it hasn't rained yet. But I know my God will provide what I need so I make a container preparing for the presence and the provision of God. You make a well. It's almost as if God would say something like this. "You show me your faith, "and I'll show you my faithfulness." If you dig it, I will fill it. If you prepare for me, I will show up. Jesus apparently had this kind of philosophy. • In the New Testament there's a guy with a withered up hand. Instead of Jesus saying "I'm just going to heal you." Jesus said, "No, you stretch out your hand and I will heal it. Show me you believe I can do it and I will do it. • A man who couldn't walk for 38 years, Jesus didn't just say, "You're healed." Instead He said, "You take up your mat. You get up, you show me you believe that I can make you walk. If you show me your faith, I will show you my faithfulness.” I love the “If Promises” of God in scripture. "If you draw near to me. I will draw near to you." You show me that you believe and I will show you my presence. If you seek me, you will find me. If you make room for me, I will reveal myself to you. If you haven't sensed the presence of God in a long time, it’s time to make a well. It's time to dig a ditch. It's time to say God, I'm gonna stop and wait for your presence. I'm going to prepare for your provision and for your presence. Because if you dig it, He will fill it. Think about this. Some of you, really, you need an encounter with God. God rarely reveals Himself to people who are rushed. Imagine Moses, and the burning bush. Moses driving by 75 miles an hour by the burning bush. Taking a picture of it. That's not what God says. God says "Hey, why don't you stay a while? Why don't you take off your sandals because you're standing on holy ground? Why don't you for a moment be still? Be still and know that I am God.’ Why don't you make a well "and then wait on me to fill it. "Because if you dig it, I will fill it. "If you seek me, you will find me. "If you draw near to me, "I will draw near to you. "Be still, and know that I am God." For some of you it's just time to prepare and say God I want to meet with you. That’s what Advent is supposed to be, a time of preparation. I’m gonna wait for you. And I'm going to believe that you're going to reveal yourself to me because I need you right now. We enjoy Him so much on the mountains. But we get to know Him intimately in the valleys. Here's what I hope you'll understand. God never ever promised that you would never go through the valley. He promised you would never have to go through the valley alone. God is with us. "And the virgin will be with child and His name will be Immanuel, which means God with us." I love the way the Psalmist phrases this portion of scripture. He says this. As we journey through the Valley of Baka. We're going to the place of peace. Then he says "They go from strength to strength." I love this phrase. “ Not our strength, but His strength. And this is the very thing that God has done for me in some past valleys. It is the very thing He will do for you. We can sense His strength in a way that we can't otherwise. When we totally and completely need Him and we have nothing else. We know that we're traveling through the valley. We're just here, we're passing through. He is a good God. And we're going to the place of peace. So right now you feel weak. Who is God? He is Immanuel, God with us in the valley.

In the Wilderness

December 12, 2021 • Lyndol Loyd • Matthew 1:23

Emmanuel: God With Us — In the Wilderness We are moving forward in our Advent series, Immanuel: God With Us. We're looking at the different ways that we can encounter the presence of God in various seasons in our lives. Our key verse for this series is Matthew 1:23, “Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She'll give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God is with us.” Pastor Brian got us started by talking about what it means for God to be with us in the Storms of Life. Today I want to talk about another metaphor from Scripture, and that is the wilderness. How do we experience God's presence in the wilderness? The wilderness is a barren place, a dry place, a desolate place where you feel very alone. It is a time when we're wondering when in the world is this going to be over. We're wondering when are we going to get out of the wilderness. Some of you right now, you might be in some type of a wilderness. • You're stuck in a job, and you're wondering, should I stay in this job. Or, should I go back to school, and then I may have to go into student loan debt but I may have a better job. I'm kind of stuck in this place, should I stay or should I do something different. • I'm renting a house and I wonder, should I buy a house, I'm not getting any equity. But if I do that I may get transferred, I just don't know. And so you kind of feel stuck in this place. • I'm dating some guy, and he just won't ask me to marry him. I dated him, I dated him, and I prayed and I prayed and I fasted and I fasted and fasted and he still didn't do it, he's just playing video games, should I stay with him? Or should I go out with somebody else, you know. And then give up all that time, it just kind of goes on and on and on and on. We often feel alone. We feel lost. We feel disoriented. We feel like nobody really understands what we're going through in the wilderness. What's so interesting to me is when you look at wilderness stories in the Bible, they often follow mountaintop experiences. Wilderness times often follow mountaintop times. That's exactly what happened with Jesus. He had a mountaintop moment with God right after he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the heavens literally opens up, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. And his father verbally and publicly expresses his love and approval for his son, and God says, this is my son, whom I love. With him I'm well pleased. It's a father saying I'm proud of my son. It's a mountaintop experience, and then the next verse says, immediately Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. Mountaintop, followed by wilderness. For some of you, it may have been like that. • Things were going great, and then you found out that someone wasn't being honest with you. Suddenly you're in a wilderness. • You're in a financial wilderness. You're trying and trying and trying to get out of this debt, and you feel so desperate. Whatever you do it doesn't seem to work. • You've tried to tell people how you feel, but they just don't seem to understand. You feel alone, you feel spiritually dry, you feel desperate in the wilderness. What I want to do today is show you one big thought that we'll come back to again and again that I pray would not just be true, but would be true to your spirit as you hear it and as you live it. The big thought is this: your deepest need, as much as it hurts, your deepest need becomes a gift, when it drives you to depend on God. In fact, I'm going to show you a story from the Old Testament in 1 Kings 19 where this is lived out in a very real way. We see Elijah the prophet that God had used in massive ways. He, literally on the mountaintop, Mount Carmel, experiences the power of God. And almost immediately after this, we see him go from the mountaintop to the wilderness, where he's desperate, where he's depressed, where he feels all alone and scared for his life. To give you a little context, there was an evil king named King Ahab and King Ahab had an even more evil wife named Jezebel. And Jezebel heard about all that Elijah had done. She got so mad, essentially she said to her husband, “Look, if you can't do the job right, then let this woman do the job.” That's kind of what she did, she says, send word to Elijah that by this time tomorrow he will be dead. She threatened him. King Ahab had been coming after him for years and years and years, but as soon as Jezebel got mad, Elijah got scared. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. Let me pause for a moment, because when you just read the text you may not understand just how far this guy ran. To run to Beersheba, listen, this is before Uber, I mean we're talking the guy is on foot. He runs about 100 miles to get away from this crazy, angry woman. We're talking the distance of Lubbock to Amarillo. He is scared, he runs 100 miles. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. He was just on the mountaintop, but where did he end up. He ran into the wilderness, where he's alone, where he's scared, where he's hurting, and where he's desperate. He came to a broom bush, and sat down under it and prayed that he might die. And then he said the words that so many of us have said or felt at some point in our lives. He said, I've had enough Lord. I just can't take it anymore. He had put up battle. He had fought with bravery. He had faith. He had courage, and finally, he's just at the end of his rope. I've had enough, Lord. I'm certain in a group this size that there are some of you that in some point in your life, and many of you at this point in your life, have said those very words. I'm done. I'm spent. I've had enough, I can't take it anymore. • You're raising kids, you're raising teenagers. At some point you say it, I've had it up to here. I've had enough Lord. Then you say, don't make me come back there, because I will. You know, you say that, things like that come out of your mouth. I've had enough Lord. I can't take it anymore. • Some of you are in a work situation where finally just the straw breaks the camel's back, like I can't take it anymore here, I just can't take another day at this place. • Financially, you're trying to get ahead, and you're making progress, and then, your car breaks, right. Your toilet overflows. Then, your two year old puts a Tic Tac up his nose, and you're going to the emergency room to get it removed, and you're like, what is this God, I can't take anymore at all. You feel overwhelmed. • Sometimes it's the smallest things. You work hard, you serve faithfully, you make everybody the greatest meal ever, you put it out on the table, it's made with love. They eat it in 30 seconds, they leave all the dishes on the table, and so you turn into Jezebel. I'm going to kill somebody. By this time tomorrow, everyone who ate of my food will be dead if this house isn't cleaned up. It just throws you over, it's just something. Apparently this is what happened to Elijah the prophet. Because let me tell you what, this guy had experienced the presence of God. This guy had fought with bravery, with boldness. In fact, if you don't know the back story, he stood down the evil king, and prophesied, and called for a drought as a punishment to this king's sins. Sure enough, God stopped the rain. Well the king is mad at Elijah, so he sends all of his forces after Elijah. He hides for three years, God is protecting him. God miraculously feeds him through ravens from heaven. Then God uses Elijah to raise the life of a dead boy. This prophet stands down 850 false prophets of Baal, he calls down fire from heaven, God shoots fire from heaven, consumes the altar, then God destroys the false prophets. Elijah eventually calls and asks God to make it rain. He sees in the distance a cloud the size of a man's hand, and has the faith to believe that God is bringing the provision of rain, and God does. This prophet experienced the protection of God, this prophet experienced the provision of God, he knew very well the presence of God, he had experienced God's greatness, and then Jezebel makes a threat, he runs for his life. Some of you feel this way right now. I've had enough. I can't take anymore. I'm just exhausted. I'm overwhelmed. I'm doing the best I can, and the best I can just isn't enough. Dr. Henry Cloud is a fantastic Christian psychologist. He was talking to a group of leaders that were all experiencing the same thing, what many of you may be experiencing right now. They were all talking about how, we're just tired. We're just all tired, we're tired, we're tired, we're tired. Dr. Cloud said, you may be misdiagnosing what your real need is. He said, most of you are not tired. Because if you were tired, you could take a nap, and that would solve your problem. You're not in need of physical rest, as much as you are in need of Spiritual Replenishment. You're spiritually depleted. This needs to speak to somebody. You're not just tired, you're not just overwhelmed. What you need is an encounter with the very real and very holy presence of God. What you need is an intimate moment where you experience the grace, the goodness, the loving kindness, the mercy of the presence of God. You're not just tired. Maybe you do need some rest. Maybe some physical rest would be good. But even more than just physical rest, you need to encounter the grace of God. You need spiritual replenishment. This is what David said in the 23rd Psalm, he said, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” Not just tired, not just worn out. But I need the restoration of the grace of God to my soul. Not just physically exhausted, but spiritually depleted. So, what does God do? What I love, is what God doesn't do. God doesn't preach him a sermon, he doesn’t say, “This is your fault”. God doesn't give him 10 verses to memorize, or say, “Where's your faith?” What God does is God tells Elijah to eat and to rest, that's what God says. Here's what Scripture says in 1 Kings 19:5-6, “.., But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.” What did God say? Essentially, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to rest in the presence of God. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is just take a breather, and let God restore your soul. Verse 7 continues, “Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” The angel of the Lord came back a second time. I love this. I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't get it the first time. And God comes back a second time, and a third time, because the presence of God continues to pursue you. There are those of you today, God is coming back for you again. And if you don't get it today, he'll come back again. He was strengthened by the food he traveled and forty days and forty nights, until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into the cave and spent the night there. Verse 9 says, “But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Some of you, God may speak to you that way. What do you think you're doing? You know better than this. What are you doing right now, you've got access to me. Why are you running away from people and running away from God, what are you doing here? And then Elijah starts getting whiny voiced when he's talking to God. I don't know if you ever get whiny voice when you're talking to God, but I get whiny voice sometimes when I feel like God's not answering my prayers, and God's not doing what I want him to do, and I get whiny voice. He replied in verse 10, “I've been zealous for the Lord God Almighty…” That's what I do. God, I've been working so hard. Why don't you hear my prayer? God, why don't you do this for me, whiny voice? He's got a whiny voice. He continues, “…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're trying to kill me too.” He's in a spiritual wilderness. He's hurting. His need is so great he cannot see beyond his own need. Nobody understands. Nobody's doing it like I'm doing it. I'm all alone, I'm desperate, and what does God do? God meets him in his deepest need. God ministers to him in his moment of vulnerability. God brings healing in the middle of the hurt. That's why I hope you'll understand that your deepest need can become a gift, when it drives you to depend on God. God comes to him again and again, and reaches out to him in his deepest need. I love verses 11 through 13, the Lord said, “Go and stand on a mountain in the presence of the Lord…” He's thinking this is what I need, I need God's presence, I'm scared for my life. I need God's presence, God is going to reveal himself to me. “…and as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” God was not in the remarkable, God was in the ordinary whisper. God was in the whisper. Why is it that when life is so difficult, God's voice is so quiet? Why is he gentle? Why is his voice so still and so small? If God wants us to hear him, why does he whisper, why doesn't he shout? Why doesn't he speak in loud and powerful, spectacular ways? If he wants us to know him and to hear him, why does he whisper? I'll tell you why. God whispers because he's close. Because he's right there with you. He whispers because he's near. The devil shouts his lies, but God whispers his truth. God doesn't shout to get your attention, he whispers to draw you close. What does he say to you? I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I've been with you every single moment, and I love you more than you can imagine. When you hurt, I hurt with you. I'm with you in the valley. I'm with you in the storm. I'm with you in the wilderness. Why does God whisper? He whispers because he's right there. He's close. If your heart is hurting right now, and you feel brokenhearted, where is God? Let me tell you where he is. Scripture tells us in Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Why does he whisper? Because he's close. Because he is near. Because he is Immanuel - God with you. David said of God's presence in Psalm 139:7-10, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up into the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even if your hand guides me, your right hand will hold me fast. Your right hand will hold me.” Do me a favor. I want you to hold up your hand right in front of your face, just almost touching your nose. I realize that this might seem a little bit odd, but just do me a favor and indulge me on this. Now I want you to breathe on your hand. Did you feel that? Sure you did. You had to because it was so incredibly close. Now hear this. God is even closer to you than the very air that you breathe. How close is the presence of God to you this morning? Why does God whisper? Because he's close. Because he's close. One day you'll discover that your deepest need becomes a gift, when it drives you to depend on God.