Elijah and called this series. Elijah was a man just like us. And I'm GCC's pastor. My name is Trevor Davis. I'm glad that you came today.

It's prophetic ministry Sunday, so we alter our order of service and do the speaking up front, and the Lord's supper in the middles, and praise and worship after that. And then we'll have a time of prophetic ministry, adjourn our service, and pray for the saints after the first service. I think the prayer time lasted about 30 minutes, so all the lines were full. I expect it to probably be that way today, meaning so many people are being ministered to and have come to church and leaving, having received from God. I read a quote this week that said, it's always about timing.

If it's too soon, no one understands. If it's too late, everyone has forgotten. Now, with that in mind, imagine Elijah the prophet going to the king's palace before the three year famine with the following request. One kings, 1819. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Bale, the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.

If Elijah had just shown up day one and demanded the king, hey, I want you to get all your subjects and all of your prophets and all of your courtiers and bring them to Mount Carmel to meet with me. How do you think Ahab would have responded? How do you think that message would have been received? I think he would have scoffed at what he would perceive as an overconfident prophet. And I think that he would think something or say something like this.

Who does this guy think he is? Ordering me to assemble my advisors and my subjects at his command. How disrespectful of this stranger. But add three years with not a drop of rain to a society that is agricultural and must have it. And now you have the king immediately obliging Elijah.

Without question, timing made the difference. Also, we learn in the New Testament at the words of Jesus, with God, all things are possible. And so here's verse 20 of first kings 18. So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. I want you to feel the tension.

I want you to see it rising here in the text. Elijah was now ready to reveal the purpose of the three year famine in Israel. And you know what it was? It was to give this prophet a platform to speak the truth to Israel, for their God, to the nation. And it was to put to shame forever the false prophets of Baal.

And it was to purify God's people and purify his land. And so I want you to picture the scene. Thousands of nameless peasants converging on Mount Carmel. The 850 false prophets also assemble. They are confused and they are nervous.

All the palace officials with the king and the queen, Ahab and Jezebel, they get there, too, and they are perplexed and they're worried. And I don't want you to think that this gathering happened in an hour or two. It took a couple of days as the word spread. And here was the word. Everyone hurry to Mount Carmel at the king's command.

What a sight this is. What an enormous crowd that has gathered. It's stunning. And what a platform that was now given to God's prophet. And once all the people assembled, and it took a little while, Elijah got right to the point.

Here's verse 21. Elijah came to all the people and he said, how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him not a word.

Why ask this question? The question of how long will you falter between two opinions? The answer is, because God's people had turned away from him. He wanted them to see it and know it. They were trying to love the world and keep their religion at the same time.

It means they were undecided, which makes this an appropriate message to preach in America on Sunday morning. They were sitting on the fence between lies and the truth. They were faltering. The word is stumbling between two opinions. I want you to think of it this way because this will bring it into the year that you live.

They wanted to be Baal worshippers because that was their culture. All their friends, all their education, all their colleagues, this is what they were. And so that peer pressure was working on them, their culture. But they also wanted to be Yahweh worshippers because that was their heritage. Their moms and grandmas, their dads and grandfathers and their aunts and uncles, they all went to meet with God at the tabernacle and at the temple.

And so their heritage said, go with God. Their culture said, go with Baal. And they wanted to do both. They wanted to be a Christian at church, and they wanted to be accepted by all their unsaved friends at the club and at college and at the marketplace and at work and at the supermarket. We want both.

They couldn't make up their minds whether to follow the God of Israel or the prophets of Baal. And let me tell you what's happening? The peer pressure of their world was colliding with the nostalgia of their upbringing. And that's a word for somebody in this room today. What do you mean by that, preacher?

Well, it's a word for someone who was raised in the church. But now you're an adult. Your parents took you to the house of the Lord. They read the scriptures. They made you go.

You knew the songs. You had a pastor, maybe, who loved you, that you respected you remember what it was like. But then you got in high school, started partying, went to college. It got worse, and finished up your degree, got a job in the marketplace, and you looked up, and every seven days keeps going by, and the weeks turn in the munch, and you look up and you hadn't thought about God. You don't open your bible.

You know Snapchat and Facebook and all the social media, Instagram. You know those very well. You know channel seven, but you don't know Matthew seven.

And if anybody asked you what's the evidence that you know God? You would say, well, there really isn't any, but in my past. So I want to ask you a question. Are you a fence straddler? Are you undecided about whether Jesus Christ is the only way to God?

Because the earliest message of the christian church was, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 412. Jesus says, no one comes to the father but by me. John 14 six. So I must kindly say to you that if you're a fence straddler in this matter, if you're wavering between two opinions, it also means that you, in 2024, are in the exact same position as those ancient Israelites who could not make up their minds whether to worship Baal or to worship God, how long will you stumble between two options?

You see, Elijah's challenge that day on Mount Carmel to the whole nation called for a decision to be made. Like, you don't just leave Mount Carmel and go, what a word that prophet delivered. He says, that word is worthless unless you do something with it. They had to get off the fence, and so must we. I have a question for you.

If you know the background, if you've heard the other three sermons, if you've read first KiNg 17, and now we're in 18, what is the one thing everyone present on Mount Carmel that day was interested in? What did they all agree on? What do they have in common? What was the one thing they all longed for? The answer is rain.

And if Elijah held out hope for rain. Then they were willing to listen to him about that idea. Matthew Henry, 500 years ago, wrote in his commentary, deserters must not look for God's favor until they return to their allegiance. You don't go back to Yahweh, you don't get any rain. That was the idea.

If you're on the fence, you're instructed to come down on the side of the true God, the God of the Bible, the God who hears your prayers, and the God who loves us more than we love ourselves. I have to ask you, are you serving this God?

How long will you waver between these two opinions? So here's what happens in our text. I love this. This is every high school and junior high boys dream. Elijah proposes a showdown, a contest.

And here were the rules. Verses 23 and 24. He's going to talk about them. The them are the false prophets of Bale and Ashra. Therefore, let them give us two bulls and let them choose one bull for themselves.

Cut it in pieces. By the way, those are called steaks. Amen. Hallelujah. And lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

Then you call on the name, and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods. I'll call on the name of the Lord Yahweh and the God who answers by fire. He is God. Now, remember the first time Elijah spoke to the people, they answered him, not a word.

Verse 24 ends with, so all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. Now, they don't mean, what an articulate prophet. He speaks well. It is well spoken. Is also translated.

Another english translation, I think better. What you say is good. In other words, your terms are acceptable. He makes them the godfather offer, right? He gives them an offer they can't refuse.

And all they had to do was wait and watch. They didn't have to say anything. They could just decide with their eyes. Now, personally, I think the prophets of Baal hated this proposition, and here's why. I think that the prophets of Baal knew they were frauds, and they suspected that Elijah was also a fraud and his God wasn't real either.

But what if they were wrong? That's churning around in their heart? Verse 25. Now, Elijah said to the prophets of Bale, choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many. And call in the name of your God, but put no fire under it.

I love it. Elijah says, I'm outnumbered. Your team has more players. There's more jerseys for you. So you get to go first.

You get to be the home team today, and you get first shot at this. And I'll just sit back and see what happens. We are now, brothers and sisters approaching Elijah's finest hour. It would be the high water mark of his ministry. All the preparation that God did for him at the brook carth, bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening by the ravens.

All of the victory anguish that he went through at Zarephath with the widow and her son, all of those things were preparing him for this anticipated clash with these evil men on Mount Carmel that day. Now, I want to clarify something for us. It wasn't natural fire that Elijah was waiting for. It was supernatural fire.

But before I tell you more about the fire, I have a question for you. Let me just see if you think like me in some ways. Here's the question. Wouldn't it have seemed on that day in that environment? Wouldn't it have been more reasonable if Elijah had said, the God who answers by rain, he is God?

It wasn't it rain that they needed. I mean, come on. Fire seems like the last thing they would welcome because the ground was already parched, it was already dry, it was already brittle, and it was already desperate for water.

Well, why would God say, the one who answers by fire? Well, I want to remind you of a very important verse in your Bible you need to be familiar with. It's Isaiah 55, eight. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, God just doesn't think like us. God just doesn't respond like we do.

And for that I am grateful. I'm grateful that he's different from us. And so because he doesn't think the thoughts we think, and because his ways are not our ways, isn't it true that God loves to surprise us with his plans?

One Corinthians, chapter one, verse 27, says that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And if you don't believe me, think about this. The last thing anybody would have ever dreamed of was for the son of God to die on a cross to save sinners from their sins.

Only God could make that one up. So why didn't they ask for water? Because God's different from us. Now, the fire. Why did Elijah pray for fire?

Well, did you know that there's a long connection between God's ancient people and fire with the Lord?

In Exodus, chapter three, God spoke to Moses by a burning bush. Fire, right? Not only that, when the Lord descended on Mount Sinai to give the ten commandments in Exodus 19, at the tent of meeting, here's what it says. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Exodus 1918.

So here's another, another opportunity. When God shows himself, it's through fire and smoke. And at the tent of meeting, when the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people in Leviticus nine, the Bible says fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burn offering. And when the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. That's a precursor to first kings 18.

So I want you to think about this by saying, the God who answers by fire, he is God. Elijah had just found an old time nostalgic entry point into the hearts of the Israelites. They would have said, wait a minute. God, fire. That's what Mama taught us.

That's what Daddy used to pray. They would have thought, that's the God we're supposed to believe in and worship, the God who answers by fire. We've been taught that all our lives. Now I want you to know something. In the Bible, there are two kinds of fire.

Ready? Two kinds of fire in the Bible, natural fire, it goes up. Supernatural fire comes down from heaven. And the fire that Elijah was anticipating was supernatural fire, the fire that comes down. God let the fire fall.

Fire that can't be explained with natural words and purposes. Also, this is the pattern in your Bible. First the sacrifice and then the fire. If you don't believe me, Jesus, the sacrifice of all sacrifices is hung on a cross and bleeds and dies a violent death. And then a few weeks later, the fire of God falls on the church at Pentecost.

First the sacrifice, then the Pentecostal fire. It's just a pattern from the Old Testament, acts two, two and three. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and sat upon each one of them after Jesus has died, was risen and ascended to heaven.

Well, now it's time for the showdown. And the home team, the ones that was in political office at the time, the bail worshippers, the false prophets of bail and Ashra, they get to go first. And so here's verse 26 of first Kings 18. So they took the bull which was given to them and they prepared it. And they called on the name of bale from morning even till noon, saying, o bail, hear us.

But there was no voice. No one answered. Then they leaped about the altar, which they had made. So now it's turning into a sideshow, a circus. First they try to pray and that doesn't get their God's attention.

So now they're dancing around and jumping around and making fools of themselves. And Elijah's over there and I think he's got his feet propped up. He's probably smoking a cigar or something. No, he wasn't smoking because we want fire to come from heaven with no help. If he had a smartphone, he'd be surfing the Internet.

Because I want you to remember that God had given Elijah oath level confidence, and that confidence was that the Lord was going to win the day. So Elijah's at peace. His opponents are acting like fools, and Elijah has no doubt. And so that's when we come to verse 27. Verse 27 is a youth pastor's dream.

Because then you find out in the bible that there's toilet humor in the Bible. Amen. You don't believe me? I'll show it to you. And so it was at noon that Elijah mocked them.

So he was at peace. Now he's decided, I'm a little bored. I'm going to start talking trash to my opponents. I mean, we're getting nowhere. Might as well bring in some comic relief.

So he mocks them and he says, cry louder. Cry aloud. For he's surely a God. Either he is, and this list is so beautiful. Either he's meditating or he's busy or he's on a journey, or perhaps he's sleeping and must be awakened.

So Elijah begins to taunt his opponent. If this were a basketball game, he'd be called for a technical foul. If it were a football game, there'd be a yellow flag thrown on Elijah for unsportsman like conduct. If this were a baseball game, he's kicking dust and dirt on the umpire and he's being tossed from the diamond. You just don't get away with this stuff unless God allows you because you are defending the Lord God.

Because here's the trash talk. First he says, maybe your God's in a religious ritual and he's meditating and he's sitting there in a lotus position and he's got his eyes closed and he's going, he's distracted. He's meditating. Or. And here's the next one.

My Bible is very polite and says, or he's busy. The original language says, or he's doing his business on the toilet. Amen. Church appropriate. It's right in your Bible.

Was I supposed to skip it? He says, oh, I know why your God isn't answering. He's a little busy right now.

Then he says, well, maybe not. Maybe he's on a trip. Maybe he's traveling and he's just not available. He's got his phone on airplane mode, not hearing you. Or maybe he's just asleep and you need to be louder and rowdier.

And even if he isn't, I want to see it.

So Elijah begins to mock them. Martin Luther, the great reformer, used to say that the devil cannot stand ridicule verses. By the way, I'm disappointing you teenagers because the adults in the first service thought that was way funnier than you thought it was. I'm just kidding. It was funny.

Both services. Amen. So verses 28 and 29. Look. So when he says, cry aloud, when he taunts them, they go, challenge accepted.

Verse 28. So they cried aloud and they cut themselves. The enemy always causes the world to counterfeit what Jesus does. And Jesus bled and died for sinners, but he's got these people so confused, they think they need to bleed and die for themselves. So they cut themselves.

And the verse says, with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was passed, now they've been going all morning. They prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice, about the time you get off work. But there was no voice. No one answered.

No one paid attention. Do you understand now that these foolish false prophets have been at it from the morning until the late afternoon? And it just didn't matter how crazy they got, how foolish they made themselves look, how much blood flowed. There was no bail to answer them. It was an exercise in futility.

They wasted their time the same way that modern day baal worshippers who walk in the world are wasting their lives because no one in heaven is paying attention. So Elijah now turns to the people. You know what he does? And I'm summarizing several verses here. He says, I want this big crowd to come in as close as you can to get to see what I'm doing, because I'm not playing a trick on you.

I'm not doing far away magic. This is no illusion on the Las Vegas Strip. I want you to see everything I'm doing so that you know it is legitimate. So he says, come in closer. And the next thing that Elijah did was to make sure no one in the crowd could claim that it was natural fire on display.

Here's my question. What was the most precious resource that day in all the land was water.

What is the arch enemy of fire. It's water. Water quenches fire and wet wood doesn't burn. And so we read in verse 33 and he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, laid it on the wood and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice. And the wood, the water pots are big enough for a human to fit in.

It's the same word that when they lowered the apostle Paul over the wall in Jerusalem, big jars of water. And he said, do it again. Second time, that's eight water pots. And then he said, do it again a third time. That's twelve pots of water, by the way.

What a waste unless it's for God.

So now this altar is sopping wet, this bull is drenched in water and the dust had become mud and everything is against fire in this moment. And now it was Elijah's turn to pray. Now remember, they've been going all day in prayers and other nonsense. Elijah's prayer was a stark contrast to the circus that the false prophets of Baal had put on. You know what he does?

He just offers a brief, simple prayer. Do you remember what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount? We're not heard for our many words. Matthew 617, Matthew six seven. Here's verse 37.

Hear me, o Lord, hear me. That's his prayer. That this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you've turned their hearts back to you again. Do you realize that in this moment Elijah puts all his credibility and all his integrity on the line? If God shows up by fire, there would be a double vindication.

God would be vindicated and his prophet would be. But if the fire didn't fall, friends, that just meant that Elijah was no more to be listened to than the false prophets of Baal. And I want you to look back at his prayer and answer this question in your own heart. What was Elijah's singular burden? You know what it was, it was the spiritual welfare of God's people.

He said, the prayer I want you to hear, God, is that you've turned their hearts back to you again. So what's going to happen, verse 38 is what happens. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench. I'm going to tell you, the entrepreneur right here, ready for some advice? Go out in your backyard today, figure out how to set the rocks on fire.

If you do, you never have to work again because rocks and dust don't burn.

What's God's fire falls on it. And you think, I've been too bad. I've been too wicked. I've ignored God for too long. He can't get through to me.

The guy that can burn rocks can melt your heart easily. He can do it today. You see, instead of the rain they wanted, they got the fire they needed. What if you leave church today and instead of getting what you thought you wanted, what if you get from heaven what you needed? You see, more than water during a famine.

My brothers and my sisters, we need to know that there's a God in heaven. And now to the application of the sermon. The application is one question with three answers. Here's the question. Why did God send the fire?

Why would he do this? Number one, he did it to conquer his opponents, to make sure that no false prophet of Baal or Asherah would have any credibility or have anybody's ear in Israel at that time while Elijah was on earth no more. Number two, it was to confirm his prophet. This man that had been public enemy number one should now be the one they come to for counsel. But most of all, God sent the fire to convince his people to change their hearts.

Here's verse 39. Now, when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, yahweh, he is God. Yahweh, he is God. You know what the Bible says about you? One day you'll bow your knee in public and you'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Some of you may do that and never become a Christian. See, it's bound. Bow or bow later. You need to make the choice before it's made for you. Right?

So either Yahweh is God or he's not. Your confession will be different. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is lord. You can't stumble between.