God Holds the Fire and the Rain

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Transcript:

So I was sitting there thinking about the last week and thinking about some of the books that I’ve been reading lately on the subject of revival. And by the way, we’re going to be in 1 Kings 18 tonight. Thinking about the subject of revival because I really believe that that’s what this church needs. I believe that’s what all churches need from time to time.

And I’ve shared with you before that, you know, 90% of the churches in this country are either plateaued or in decline. And, you know, I don’t know. I haven’t looked at long-term where we’ve been closely enough to know if we’re in plateau or if we’re in decline.

But either way, we’re like most churches, and what’s desperately needed by churches today is a revival, is a fresh sense of the power of God. I don’t care how dedicated we are. I don’t care how stoic we are, and I’m going to be there every time the doors are open.

I’m going to do my duty. I’m going to do the things that are needed. I’m going to do the things that are expected of me, and I’m doing it for the right reasons, because I love Jesus.

I don’t care how dedicated we are, or how much our heart is in the right place. If we’re trying to do God’s work, apart from the power of God, it will very quickly turn into drudgery. It will very quickly turn into a sense of obligation, something that I’m doing because it needs to get done and nobody else will do it, so I’m going to do it, but I’m not happy about it.

And I don’t know how many of you have ever felt that way. I don’t know how many of you may feel that way right now. But what we need in our own lives and what we need in the life of a church is from time to time to get a fresh, goodness, I don’t even know the word, but a fresh anointing, for lack of a better word.

I know that word’s kind of scary because the charismatics have kind of stolen it from us, but sometimes a fresh anointing of the power and the Spirit of God. Yeah, the Holy Spirit’s always with us, but sometimes when something’s always with us, we start to take it for granted. And in all the things I’ve read, as I’ve sat out there this afternoon, or this evening during the song service, thinking about it, everything that I’ve read talks about one of the first steps in revival is brokenness.

For a person or for a congregation of people to be broken, to realize their need for and utter dependence on God. And I sat there thinking this evening that if that’s what’s required, I’m either there or I’m very close. And so I’m hoping, I’m hoping that through this you know, God will show some things to me, that God will reinvigorate me for his service and I hope and I’m praying that, not just through the last week I’ve had, but I’m praying that in the coming months that God will do something incredible here that only he can do.

You know, we talk I’ve talked to a couple of different people tonight for different reasons about how sparse we are on Sunday nights, whether it’s trying to plan a meal for the missionary next week, whether it’s help for a vacation Bible school, whether it’s this or whether it’s that, and the thought is needing to grow the church. But honestly, to grow it the way it needs to be grown, only God can do that. Now, we have a part to play, we have work to do, but it can only be done under the power of God.

Some things can only be done when God, I mean, you can plug the drill into the wall all you want, but if there’s no juice in the socket, it’s not going to turn on. And so I think what we need is a fresh experience with the power of God and a refreshing. The Bible talks about refreshings, times of refreshing that come from his spirit.

And so I’m praying that he sends us one of those. and didn’t even think about, didn’t even occur to me until tonight that the message I had planned for this morning really deals with that fact. It’s a Sunday morning series, but I’m doing it tonight, so I don’t get behind, and y’all may be the ones who needed to hear it.

But this idea of standing against the darkness of this world and standing for God, and we look at that and we think it means I’ve got to take a bold stand against gay marriage. I’m going to take a stand against abortion. Those are all part of it.

But really, the bigger stand is against the darkness, the wickedness of this world, and standing not for just social issues, not standing just for moral issues, not even just standing for our church and what our church says, but standing for the righteousness of God. And not standing on our own righteousness, but standing on his righteousness. Where our message is not, hey, world, you need to act like me and how good I am.

The message is not about how good we are, but the message is about how good God is, and about how we all fall short of that, and we need to be reconciled to God. And folks, that’s a message that will divide just as much as any stand on social issues, but it will divide in places that you wouldn’t expect. And for Elijah to continue this ministry that he had of standing against the darkness and standing for the righteousness of God just as we’re called to today.

It required what I’m talking about. It required a fresh experience and a fresh showing of the power and the holiness of God. Last week, where I left off in the story, Elijah had gone back to see King Ahab yet again and had told him, God’s going to send rain.

God’s going to send rain. But I want you to take all these, I believe it was 850 false prophets. I want you to take them.

450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah that sat at Jezebel’s table. He talks about it in verse 19. I want you to take these 850 false prophets and I want you to gather them together and I want you to send me to Mount Carmel.

And we talked last week, or I talked about last week, The idea of being able and being willing to stand alone. God has put us together as a body in Christ. God has put us together as a church so that we don’t have to stand alone. And yet we should be so concerned with the holiness and the righteousness of God that we are willing to stand up for that even if we had to stand alone.

So the commitment there is sort of I’m willing to stand alone, but thank God I don’t have to. And so he said, I want you to send these 850 false prophets. I want you to send them up to Mount Carmel.

We’re going to have a showdown. And he starts in verse 17 and it says, And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, I’m sorry, I’m starting ahead of work. I’m starting back before.

We did this last week. That’s what I’m trying to say. Verse 20.

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah said unto all the people, he said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, not a word. So Elijah’s message to the people, because when word got around, you see Ahab gathered the prophets, the false prophets to Mount Carmel, but the other people heard, wait a minute, Elijah versus these 850, something amazing is going to happen, and they went because there was going to be a show.

And Elijah’s message to them was, what is wrong with you? How do you flip-flop back and forth between these two positions? How can you not make up your mind whether you’re going to serve God or whether you’re going to serve idols?

He says, make up your minds. And folks, that’s what we’re seeing a lot in our world today. I wish I’d brought it with me.

There’s a cartoon that illustrates this point really well. I may try to print it up and put it on the bulletin board back there where you can see it. but really illustrates what’s happening in our country better than, you know, a lot of studies that I’ve seen.

In this cartoon, there are three men, two standing on one side and one on the other. And the one who’s standing alone says, you know, I don’t believe in God. And one of the men standing over here together says, I’m a Christian.

And the other one has a shirt that says, meh, just meaning whatever. And he’s saying, I’m a Christian, I am not a Christian, and I really don’t care either way, but it’s socially advantageous for me to call myself a Christian, so I’ll be over here right now. And in the next panel, the things have shifted.

You’ve got, I’m not a Christian, I am a Christian, and the man in the middle has gone over to the side of, I am not a Christian. Well, I don’t care either way, but it’s socially advantageous for me not to be a Christian anymore. So I’m going to claim that.

And then the question is, hey Christian, aren’t you worried? There used to be two of you, now there’s only one. Aren’t you worried?

And his answer is no, there’s always been just one of me. The other guy just got honest. And we look at churches around us today, and we look at America today and say, what is wrong with you? Why are our churches emptying out?

Why are people acting so awful? Why is Christianity dying? Christianity is not dying, and our churches are not dying.

There are about as many Christians as there were 20 years ago. It’s just the guys in the middle got honest. And I don’t mean that to sound hateful. But we live in a country where it’s real easy to flip-flop back and forth between two opinions.

Oh, I love Jesus. Oh, I don’t love Jesus. I love Jesus.

Oh, I don’t love Jesus. We live in a country where we are free. And so there’s no persecution.

There’s really no cost to being a Christian. So those things are very easy. And so it’s easy to halt between two opinions.

and now we’re entering a time where it’s a little harder a little less socially advantageous to be a Christian and so some guys in the middle are getting honest I don’t say that to put them down I don’t say that because I don’t love them I love them dearly I’d love to have them back love to help them grow in Christ but I’m just identifying that that’s where the issue lies it’s not that Christianity is dying it’s that the sides are changing so Elijah said why do you halt between two opinions just like we’re I feel like we look at the not just this church but Christians as a whole churches as a whole are looking at the country and saying why can’t you make up your mind one day you’re for Christ the next day you’re against him the next day when there’s something wrong you’re for him again why can’t you make up your mind this is nothing new even in ancient Israel there were people who were in the middle who couldn’t decide which side they were on and he says just make up your mind if the Lord is God then serve him if Baal is God then serve him but make up your minds and the people answered him not a word I guess not they had nothing they could say then said Elijah unto the people I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord but Baal’s prophets are 450 men now Elijah did tend to have a little bit of a flair for the dramatic He was not the only one left.

As we know from earlier in the chapter, Obadiah was hiding a hundred of them in a cave somewhere. The Bible’s not incorrect in recording this. The Bible said this is what Elijah said, and Elijah did say that, even if he didn’t realize or to him, it probably felt like I’m all alone.

You know, there are those hundred in the cave. There’s Obadiah, but they’re all in secret. I’m the only one out here taking fire.

And there are 450 prophets of Baal, plus, of course, the 450 prophets of Asherah. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.

And call ye on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken.

So he said, let’s take two bulls, let’s chop them up, let’s lay them on wood, and then let’s each, we won’t set them on fire for this burnt offering, but let’s each cry out to our God, and whichever God answers by sending them on fire, then we’ll know who the real God is. And then people said, hey, I think that’s a good idea. And Elijah said, verse 25, unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullet for yourselves.

Just so they know there’s no funny business afoot, he says, you get to pick, do whatever. Choose you one bullet for yourselves, and dress it first for ye are many and call on the name of your gods but put no fire under them. And so he says call on the name of your gods.

He’s really giving them an advantage here. They get to pick first. There are more of them and they get to call on as many gods as they want to. So if Baal doesn’t answer, they can call on Asherah.

If Asherah doesn’t answer, they can call on Molech. He says call on your gods. See if one of them will answer.

Now statistically, the odds are in their favor. They’ve got more gods to call on. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.

But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar that was made. So probably about two or three hours, they’re out there crying out to Baal and praying, O Baal, send us fire, hear us, Baal. And he’s not answering.

The Bible doesn’t just say there was no answer. It says there was no one that answered. See, they recognized there was not even a Baal. Baal’s just something somebody made up.

And they leaped upon the altar that was made. They were so intent on getting Baal’s attention that they’re out there jumping up and down trying to get his attention. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he is a God.

Either he’s talking or he’s pursuing or he’s in a journey or per adventure he sleepeth and must be awakened. I love this. Guys, don’t look at the Bible as just dry theology.

There’s so much humor in this book if you look for it, if you know where to find it. He starts mocking them, which I know we’re not supposed to do, but there it is in the Bible. He calls out to them and says, hey, just yell louder.

Maybe he’s out. Maybe he’s busy. Could be talking to somebody.

Hey guys, yell louder. Maybe he’s hard of hearing. Maybe he’s out shopping.

Call back later. Maybe he’s on the phone. Keep trying.

You’ll get him. Keep on. He’s out there having a big old time.

And folks, there is a lot of suffering and there is a lot of struggle in serving God. He never promised us that everything would be, I said this this morning. He never promised us that everything would be pleasant and the skies would always be blue.

But if you can’t ever have a good time in the Lord’s service, I feel like you’re not doing it right. He was out there having a big time. He mocked them.

And they just didn’t even hear him. They just kept on, became more intent. Verse 28 says, And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets until the blood gushed out upon them.

I told you a couple weeks ago that they were involved in the worship of Baal that went on at Ahab’s court in Ahab’s kingdom was really sickening. I mean, there was child sacrifice. There were these things where they cut themselves.

Nowadays, we look on that as a bad thing. We try to figure out how to get teenagers to stop doing that. They were out there.

These were the priests. These were the leaders of the people. They’re out there cutting themselves because their God was so bloodthirsty.

that thought, well, if we can’t get his attention any other way, maybe he’s like a shark, you know, a little drop of blood, and they just all congregate. I’m sorry, we watched Shark Week a couple weeks ago, and I still can’t get some of those things out of my mind. A little bit of blood in the water, and they all just come, not to mention Charlie was watching Jaws in the hospital room.

They just, maybe we can get his attention with some blood. And they’re out there, they’re hurting themselves, and they’re screaming, and they’re acting like lunatics. And this wasn’t particularly shocking.

this wasn’t anything new. This is what they did when they came to church, so to speak. This is how they worshipped.

Because it says they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner. In other words, like they were in the habit of doing, as they were known to do. What kind of psychotic religion says, come to worship, come to church, we’ll cut ourselves and run around like maniacs.

If they opened up a church like that in Seminole, we’d be horrified. I think we’d be having prayer vigils out there that God would send down fire on that building. And this is the kind of evil that not only was Elijah standing against, but this was the kind of evil that gripped the entire country and that he seemingly stood alone against. Guys, he was only able to do this because of the power of God, as we’ll see.

And it came to pass, verse 29, when midday was passed, and they prophesied until the time of the offering and the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded. He said, even by the time of the evening sacrifice, nobody heard them, nobody answered, nobody even saw from above what they were doing. And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me.

And all the people came near unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. So he took an altar there that had already been neglected. It was already there.

Where the people used to worship God at that altar were right with God. He didn’t come in and say, I’ve got some new ideas for you. He took them back to where they used to worship.

He took them back to where they used to be right with God. He took them back to the things that were true because they had always been true. And sometimes we’re tempted.

I don’t want to make too much of a, I don’t want to take this out of context, but you know, sometimes we are tempted to give in and accommodate the darkness around us. We’ll just agree with them on this, then they’ll accept the rest of it. Folks, what is true has always been true, and the truth that’s rooted in the righteousness of God will not change, because God doesn’t change.

And I don’t want to, like I said, I don’t want to take this little altar out of context and make a bigger deal out of it than God intended, then it’s interesting to me that he took them back to the place that they used to worship, took them back to the things that used to matter to the nation of Israel. And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word of the Lord came saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord and made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed.

And he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. So he rebuilt the altar, had it laid out there, had the animal cut up and laid out there, dug a trench around the altar and said, fill four barrels with water and come dump it on the whole thing. That was crazy.

to say we’re going to try to get fire out of soaking wet wood. I’ve tried to start fires with wood that has been sitting under my patio awning two days after it rained and there was still enough from the humidity in the air that we couldn’t get those things to light. And yet he says, come dump four barrels of water on it.

Verse 34 says, and he said, do it the second time, and they did it the second time. And he said, do it the third time, and they did it the third time. Twelve barrels of water, and all the water ran round about the altar, and filled the trench also with water, so everything is soaking wet.

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel. Excuse me, I’m used to saying Jacob there, but Israel is another name for Jacob. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy work.

hear me oh Lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast turned their heart back again so we don’t see that he stood out there and cried and jumped up and down and screamed for hours and hours and hours trying to get God to hear him we don’t see that his prayer said God make them act right God help them see that I’m right now there was a mention in there God help them see that I’ve spoken these things at your word, but it was really more about the message. God helped them know that this message is true and comes from you. It wasn’t about Elijah.

It wasn’t about how good Elijah was or how good Elijah could be or how they should act like Elijah. It was, Lord, let the people see that you are still God in Israel. Let the people see who you are.

Let the people say that all the things that I’ve told that really did come from you. And Lord, turn their hearts back again. That’s what happens in our Bible.

The power of God is demonstrated in such a way that God turns the hearts of the people back to him. And this is what our message ought to be. Again, not, look how good we are.

Why don’t the rest of you act like us Christians? Our message has got to be look at the God we serve. And God help us point the people of this nation to you.

Not so they vote right, not so they act right, but so they are reconciled to you. So what he was looking for, the message he was proclaiming even in his prayer was about God and his righteousness. We’ve got to focus on that.

That has got to be our one clear, unmistakable message the world around us, the righteousness of God, and our need to be reconciled to him. And what he was looking for to be able to accomplish it was the power of God in changing people’s hearts. Without the power of God, Elijah could have stood out there all day like the prophets of Baal and jumped around and cut himself and screamed himself hoarse, trying to get something to happen, and nothing would have ever gotten accomplished.

And you know what? Sometimes that’s what we’re doing if we try to do the work of God apart from the power of God. apart from seeking his power, and apart from seeking his spirit.

And so with the message of the righteousness of God, he asked God to do what only God could do, to show his power and change the hearts of the people. And it says in verse 38, Then the fire of the Lord fell. Just fell right out of the sky.

The fire of the Lord. And consumed the burnt sacrifice. With all that water, consumed the sacrifice.

And the wood. And the stones. It’s a pretty hot fire to be able to melt the stones.

And the dust. Burned up the dust, too. I may just be naive, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen flammable dirt. That’s something I’m going to have to look up on Google when I get home.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen flammable dirt, but apparently it burned up the dirt. It was so hot. And all the water that was in the trench.

It’s a lot of energy to take that much water and just immediately vaporize it. It’s gone. And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces.

I would imagine so. I imagine they tripped over their bottom jaws as they fell open. And they fell on their faces.

And they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And I don’t know if this is so much a chanting thing or a a shock thing.

I’ve seen people come out of tornado rubble where they just say the same things over and over. I’ve seen in particular, is everybody okay? Is everybody okay?

And you’ve answered that. Everybody’s okay. And they just keep saying it over and over and over.

It’s not doctrine. It’s just my opinion here. But I think they were shocked.

They were in shock by what they had just seen. And they’re saying, he really is God. He really is God.

He really is God. and Elijah said unto them take the prophets of Baal let not one of them escape and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there and again this is one of the places that skeptics like to look at in the Bible and say well God is so bloodthirsty how can we serve a God like that really Elijah’s not just ordering them killed because they disagreed he’s not just ordering them killed because they were of a different religion what they were doing to the people, the violence they were leading them in, the child sacrifices they were leading them in. These men were criminals.

And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up and eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. Now I like the old Hollywood epic movies that they used to make back when Hollywood produced good stuff. like the Ten Commandments.

I love Patton other than the cursing. I love movies like that. And I’ve always pictured this scene just in my own mind as it would be played out in a movie like that where all of this has just happened and Ahab sees the entire central principle of his life the entire basis of his reign And Ahab sees everything that he’s believed in and that he’s promoted just up in smoke.

And he stands there in shock as the people are taking his prophets out and slaughtering them because of what they’ve done to the nation of Israel. And he stands there just in shock, unable to decide what to do next. And Elijah, who’s been at the center of the action, looks at him very calmly and says, Close your mouth, I think I hear rain.

I very desperately want somebody to make that movie, because that’s, the way I, I may not be explaining it right, but the way I picture it in my mind, that’s the moment in the movie when I want to stand up and cheer. Sounds like rain. And immediately they cut to another scene as Elijah calmly walks away, and Ahab just still stands there shell-shocked.

They haven’t had rain for three years. And God, through Elijah, has told Ahab, it’s not going to rain again until I say so. Because this Baal you worship, you see him as the life giver, you see him as the God of the sky, you see him as the God of the storms, the lightning and the thunder.

Well, all this rain that you want out of the sky and all this fire that you want to come out of the sky, he can’t produce it, but the God of Israel can. And he’s just shown that everything that they think Baal controls, God really is in control of. And so Elijah says, sounds like rain to me.

And so Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel, and he cast himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. Elijah remembered to go and humble himself before God again and seek God’s direction. And he told his servant, go up now and look toward the sea.

And he went up. If you look at a map, you can see that Mount Carmel is not on the edge of the sea, but it’s pretty close. And I think you can probably see a great distance from there.

said to a servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, there’s nothing. And he said, go again seven times.

So every time the servant came back and said, there’s nothing, Elijah said, go back and check again. And it came to pass, verse 44, at the seventh time, that he said, behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, go up and say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

So Ahab still hasn’t really left the area. and they see a cloud about this size, about the size of a fist. And Elijah says, you better go tell Ahab to get in his chariot and get down the mountain, otherwise he’s going to get caught in a storm. And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was great rain.

And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. And that’s where we’re going to stop tonight. I think sometimes the reason why we don’t see the results we’re looking for in the Lord’s service is because we’re trying to do it on our own under our own power without relying on the power of God.

If I could just say the right words, if I could just take the right words and put them in the right combinations, You can really pack the altars. Or if I go out and I say just the right words and approach them just the right way, I can convince somebody to trust Jesus as their Savior. If I pick just the right songs, Brother Ken, if you pick just the right songs, and these ladies play them just right, it’ll really change people’s hearts.

Whatever the ministry is. We think, if I could just do it this way, and I fall into that trap probably more than any of you. If I just did this, maybe this would.

. . And we forget about the power of God.

We forget it’s God’s role to change hearts. It’s our role to step up and be obedient and do what he’s called us to do and do it the best we can, but we’ve got to realize that the results are not up to us. Elijah didn’t send the fire down on the sacrifice, did he?

It was God that sent the fire down on the sacrifice. Elijah didn’t bring the rain to Israel. It was God that sent the rain.

God holds the fire that they were looking for. God holds the rain that they were looking for right in his hand. And it’s a mistake to try to, even with the best of intentions, to try to serve God without relying on the power of God.

Without every day seeking the power of God to help us. Whether we’re talking about our ministry here as a church and trying to grow a church not only in numbers, but grow a church spiritually, it’s a mistake to do the things that we do without asking God for His power and for His Spirit every day. Now please understand, I’m not saying the Spirit leaves us.

We’re indwelled by the Spirit from the moment of conversion. We don’t always pay attention to that Spirit, do we? We don’t always let that Spirit lead us and guide us.

So it’s a mistake in whatever way we’re trying to serve God. to try to make the results happen on our own without relying on His power and without relying on His Spirit and without asking for those things every day without seeking to be led by Him and empowered by Him. As we speak to the world outside and we try to minister to the world outside and it grows darker around us and we think, why can’t I just get people to listen?

Why won’t they do this? Why won’t they do that? Why don’t they understand?

It is a mistake. It is a mistake to 

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