Elijah - Back into Battle

If you got your Bible first Kings chapter 18 First Kings chapter 18 Elijah goes back into battle He since first Kings 17 1 we knew nothing about him before he arrived on the scene But in first Kings 17 verse number 1 there was this great confrontation with with Ahab the king of Israel And the Lord moved He had I mean Elijah from that time to camp at a brook called Kareth And he was there for probably over a year and then God would move him and there'd be a crisis in Zarephath And he was there probably around maybe two years or so And now it's been over three years and now he's going to go into contention With the prophets of Baal all this was preparation for Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel Elijah did not know the process he was going to go through Nor did he know all that was going to happen with how long it was going to not rain.

He did not know God didn't tell him that But he was faithful all the while and now he is going to go back into battle because God is going to Move him again You see the Word of the Lord would come to Elijah and he would move and then he would stay put Until the Word of the Lord would come to Elijah again and then he moved and then he'd stay put Until the Word of the Lord came to Elijah again Elijah is a man of action He's a prophet But he's been an utter obscurity for for a little over three years He hasn't been on the public scene since first Kings 17 verse number one and You'd think that after that Confrontation with Ahab that he would stay around the city of the king, but he didn't do that because God wanted to move him You see when the when the famine began No one noticed the famine Elijah says it's not gonna rain.

Okay, so it doesn't rain for a couple of weeks. So it doesn't rain for a couple of months But six months a year 18 months two years now things are Becoming worse and worse. In fact, they were the worst in Samaria. We'll we'll see that here just in a few moments if the land was was brown the land was Barren the land was burnt. There was no water. It was hardened And Elijah now has to move Remember he's been in the widow at Zarephath's house lodging above For at least a year and a half maybe two years Nobody knows where he is he had he is the most wanted man in Israel and God now comes to him and says you got to move you got to go.

You got to go and present yourself to the king And Ahab could have come up with all kinds of excuses as to why he wasn't going to go But Elijah like any good soldier follows the order of his commanding officer and So when God said move Elijah moved But during those three and a half years God spoke to him three times and Upon speaking to him those three times he obeyed but he had to sit a while and wait for God to speak and Then when God finally moves him He moves him further into danger because now he has to go and Confront the king again the king who wants him dead So he will lead at Zarephath.

He will move to Samaria and Then he will see all around him dead animals dead crops People emaciated because they hadn't had anything to eat people starving to death He's gonna see the horror of God's rod of judgment upon the nation of Israel He's gonna see it firsthand. We don't know how many times he went outside the house of the widow of Zarephath Baba didn't tell us He really couldn't go out to the streets and talk about how he raised the widow's son from the dead I mean because then everybody would know that it was Elijah and then they would all know where Elijah lived So did he stay in the house for two years?

What did he do? We don't know But he waited and he waited and he waited until God Moved him. There's a good lesson there for you and me Maybe you're in that waiting period It's been a long time It's not too long to wait for three and a half hours Unless of course you're in the ER and then three and a half hours. He's like three and a half million years It's not too long to wait for three and a half weeks Like in three and a half months But as time begins to go on and on and on we get a little restless, don't we?

We want to begin to move and do something and there's a lot of people in the church Who don't have time to wait for God to move them So they move themselves They do what they think they need to do and the Bible says Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding In all your ways acknowledge him.

He will direct your paths. The worst thing you can do is lean on your own understanding The worst thing you can do is think through something Logically and say this is what I need to do without ever checking with the God of the universe and Running everything through him and by him to make sure he truly is moving you We have the Word of God. We can study the Word of God Elijah would wait for God to speak before he moved and what God spoke He listened and obeyed Let me read to you the narrative.

We're gonna cover tonight first Kings 18 verses 1 to 20 Now it happened after many days that the Word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go show yourself to Ahab And I will send rain on the face of the earth So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab now the famine was severe in Samaria Ahab called Obadiah Who was over the household?

Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly For when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and Provided them with bread and water Then Ahab said to Obadiah Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys Perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive and not have to kill some of the cattle So they divided the land between them to survey it and went one way by himself and it but Obadiah went another way by himself Now as Obadiah was on the way behold Elijah met him And he recognized him and fell on his face and said is this you Elijah my master He said to him it is I Go say to your master behold Elijah is here Well, wouldn't you love to say that?

Elijah's here. I mean you had to get a little bit of you know Excitement out of saying that go tell Ahab Ta-da Elijah is here. Wow. What a what a powerful time And he said what sin? Have I committed that you are giving your servant to the hand of a head to put me to death as the Lord your God lives There is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent a search for you And when they said he is not here. He made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you And now you are saying go say to your master behold Elijah is here It will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you where I do not know So when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you he will kill me Although I your servant I fear the Lord for my youth has not been told to my master What I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord that I hid a hundred prophets of the Lord by 50s in a cave and provided them with bread and water and Now you are saying go say to your master behold Elijah's here.

He will then kill me Well, I just said as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand. I will surely show myself to him today So ab over Daya went to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah When I have saw Elijah a upset to him. Is this you you troubler of Israel? He said I have not troubled Israel but you and your father's house have Because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the bales Now then send and gather to me all Israel of Mount Carmel Together with four and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table So a have sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel Three things I want you to see number one is the command of God to Elijah and Then the concern surrounding Obadiah and then the confrontation With Ahab, okay.

First of all the command by God to Elijah Elijah is in Zarephath the widow's house Waiting for God to move him The Word of the Lord comes to him in the third year of the famine That means it's three and a half years and how do we know that Luke 4 James 5?

Tells us the exact length the Old Testament doesn't tell us but the New Testament does So it's in the third year.

It's three and a half years into the famine when everything is bad Okay the Word of the Lord comes to Elijah and says show yourself in First Kings 17 verse number one.

It was hide yourself now It's show yourself Before it probably was hard for for Elijah to hide himself I mean he had his he didn't have even have 15 seconds of fame let alone 15 minutes of fame He went in told the king that there should not be any rain except by my word That was it and God says you got to go It didn't take him even 15 seconds to say that but he had to go and God says go and hide yourself Well, why would I hide myself?

I'm not in any danger right now It won't be till four five six eight months down the road. Will I be in danger? What I have to hide myself now, but he didn't argue with the Lord God moved him and he went now God says No longer do you?

Hide yourself now you must show yourself really now I have to show myself now when I'm the most wanted a man in Israel now when everybody wants to be dead now when the King has searched high and low to kill me now you say show yourself Wow God. Thank you Thank you for putting me on on display but God said I'm gonna cause it to rain God gave him a promise God gave him a command and gave him a promise. I'm gonna cause rain to fall on the earth That was good news because Elijah had to stay focused on the promise and not the problem See that we don't do that We focus on the problem and forget the promise But if Elijah can focus on the promise and forget the problem He can continue to persevere through whatever ministry God calls him to and the reason we don't persevere through ministry is Because we keep our eyes on the problem and not the promise So God gives the command and gives him a promise.

In fact, every time God gave Elijah a command he gave him a promise Remember back in verse number four. He says you got to go you got to go to a brook called Kareth And when you get there, I will provide for you there I will provide the Ravens to give you food and you'll drink for the brook That was a promise and for over a year God provided for Elijah. The food was always there and Then God says you got to go you got to go to sight and you got to go to Zarephath in Sidon And it's a hundred miles away.

That's where you got to go and there I will provide for you a widow who will give you water to drink Provide for you again. So again, there's a command coupled with a promise. That's what God does Same thing was true with with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 Abraham I want you to leave where you are and go to a land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you immensely Immensely since the end of Moses in Exodus chapter 4 You go Moses you lead my people and I will give you the words to say I will be your mouthpiece Same thing Christ said to the Apostles in Matthew 28 go into all the world and preach the gospel Go to all the world and make disciples right teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age He gives them a promise.

He gives them a command say here's my promise associated with the command and all of it deals with God providing and protecting you through his presence And here's the problem that we have Because we don't obey the commands of God we cannot see His presence nor sense his protection You obey his commands You will know that lo I am with you always even to the end of the age is so very very true You'll experience that you'll experience the presence of God So here was Elijah and I didn't say you know what Lord you've got to be kidding me There's got to be another way for me, how about if I just how about if I how about if we send the widow Send the widow to get a hat and bring a hat to me.

How about we do that? You want me to go out there where my picture is posted on every? Barren tree this man Elijah is wanted if you know where he is tell me because we're going to kill him I don't want to go out there. I don't want to face all that turmoil everybody out there hates me But no Elijah didn't discuss that with God he didn't debate that with God he he did exactly what God said He obeyed the word of the Lord That's what servants do That's what soldiers do they obey their commanding? officer We love to give a myriad of excuses as to why we don't do this or why we don't do that and God God doesn't like excuses read the story of Moses in the anger of the Lord burned against Moses Here is God speaking to Moses through a burning bush okay, speaking to him telling him who he is and Moses comes up with every excuse under the Sun as to why he cannot lead the people of Israel and the anger the Lord burned against him and So many times I think that the anger of the Lord burns against us because we just won't capitulate to the commands of God We say yes And follow through God will bless immensely Let's look at Elijah's life what God did how he provided for him and protected him every step of the way So we move with the command of God to the concern with Obadiah And why is this a concern because we got to figure out what kind of man Obadiah is What kind of man is he?

Some commentators denounce him others commend him What will we do with Obadiah? Now this is not the Obadiah who has a book named after him when he pronounces judgment against Edom This is a different Obadiah In fact, you got to decipher between all the different Obadiah is in the Old Testament to figure out which one is which? But you got to ask yourself What kind of man is Obadiah in the Bible tells us that he feared the Lord greatly. It's what says, right? It also says that when Jezebel was killing all the prophets He would hide a hundred of them Fifty in one cave fifty in another cave provide for them food and provide for them water and As far as we know He did not fall down and worship at the altar of Baal so You would tend to think that this is a great man This was a man who fears God.

This is a man who hides the prophets of God This is a man who doesn't worship Baal. This is a man who is in the king's court He's a governor in the king's court therefore he is a man who has a Political position in the nation and has the greatest opportunity to impact the king and the question comes Does he or? Does he not well? You have to understand all That surrounds Obadiah We know what the Bible says it tells us And they have says Obadiah.

That's what we're gonna do. We got to find We got to find some grass for our horses Really people are dying and you want to find grass for your horses and We want you to go this way and I'm gonna go that way and we got to find somewhere because we have got to keep our Horses alive. We have got to be militarily strong. We can't let our defenses down. So you go one way. I'll go another way Obadiah says, okay Obadiah's on the road and all of a sudden he comes face to face with Elijah the prophet of God He recognizes Elijah right away Three and a half years hasn't changed Elijah much.

He looks pretty much the same as he did three and a half years ago and Elijah Meets Obadiah and Obadiah says is this you Elijah? My master key phrase my master Are you the prophet of Israel? And Elijah responds in verse 8 it is I Go say to your master. Ah Go say to your master Elijah is here. Obadiah calls Elijah's master Elijah calls Ahab Obadiah's master So who's master of Obadiah? Elijah or King Ahab good question, right? And all you have to do is read the story to understand who is master of who and So Elijah says you go you tell Ahab Elijah's here and he says What sin have I committed that you are giving your servant to the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

Uh-huh He's afraid He's afraid. What's he afraid of? He's afraid that if he goes to Ahab and tells him about Elijah He's gonna die why because the king has searched every kingdom and every nation looking for Elijah That's what Obadiah tells him. He has looked everywhere. He has scoured the countryside He's made every kingdom and every nation swear that they do not know who you are or where you are And now you want me to go tell him that you're here. I'm not gonna do that You know, I'm not gonna do that Elijah because if I do the Spirit of the Lord is gonna come and sweep you away And when I bring Ahab to you, you're not gonna be there and he's gonna kill me Now, where did he get that view of God?

now you have to understand the importance of Obadiah and his service to the king The Bible tells us you cannot serve two masters you'll love one You'll hate the other you can't serve two and Obadiah tried to serve two He would straddle the fence You never hear about Obadiah calling the king to repentance You never hear of Obadiah Crying out to the nation You need to turn from your sin We're in this situation because of your sin He doesn't do that And did he really worship the true God of Israel? We know he probably didn't bow down to the gods of Baal So what did he do?

He probably did nothing on the Sabbath He probably remained silent on the Sabbath in fact Obadiah was one who had a high position in the government but maintained his silence and No matter where you are in the world. You can never maintain your silence Why? because silence Condones the sin Whatever you do not confront Through your silence you automatically Condone What you do not Condemn because of your silence you automatically Commend And Obadiah was one of those who had the greatest of opportunities To stand strong for the Lord God of Israel because he had a position in the king's palace To say something for God to speak against the immorality and idolatry of the day But he said nothing why because he was afraid he was going to die At worse at worse He died at best he'd lose his job But he didn't want to lose his job.

He had a cushy job. I mean it was a great job in the king's palace He didn't want to rock the boat the king's palace You know Christians like that don't want to rock the boat They want to rock the boat of school. They don't rock the boat in the office place They don't want they want to rock the boat in their work environment. They just want to maintain their silence and live Jesus They want to show Jesus They don't speak for Jesus They don't stand strong for Jesus They don't speak out against the immorality and the sinfulness surrounding them for fear.

They might lose their job or Fear that they might be ridiculed. I Hope that's not you. I Really do Because you don't want to be Obadiah Because Obadiah is never mentioned after this Because his life means nothing Nothing Elijah is though Elijah's mentioned after this you don't see Obadiah on top of Mount Carmel Standing next to Elijah saying okay Elijah. Don't get him baby. I'm behind you. Let's go rip We're gonna root to do all we can to make sure that everybody's gonna worship the God of Israel You don't see him on Mount Carmel.

Do you where is he? Where is he? He's nowhere to be found. Why? He says he says If I go and I tell Ahab The Spirit of the Lord is gonna sweep you away. I'm gonna come back. You're not gonna be here and I am going to die And this is this He says Hasn't not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord that I hid a hundred prophets of the Lord by 50s in a cave and provided them With food or bread and water Haven't you been told what I've done? Elijah Well, la dee da whoopie doo so you hid a hundred prophets years ago and You fed them bread and water.

Really? That's the best you can do Obadiah That's all you did way. I spared people's lives. I Protected them Yeah, but you say anything to the king Did you condemn the Kings immorality? Did you condemn the nation's idolatry? Did you speak out against the sin that was? Encompassing the nation of Israel, what did you say Obadiah? So you went and he hid some people in a cave la dee da No big whoop But see that's all he can think about This is what I did Commend me for my actions Elijah. Hasn't anybody told you what I did.

Well, I didn't care what he did Doesn't care Because Elijah Elijah is a spokesperson for God Elijah's gonna stand against the prophets of Baal Elijah is gonna humiliate the prophets of Baal Elijah's gonna stand firm for his king and be honored because of it But not Obadiah Not Obadiah See this is what happens listen when as a Christian you want to do the right thing and So you go to work or you go to school and you and you want to live the right way But you just don't come out and speak against the sin.

That's there. You just kind of kind of silent about it and Because you can't worship the one true God because if you do Jezebel kill you So you just don't go for lack of a better phrase to church anymore You just stop going all together You don't worship the prophets of Baal you just don't worship the one true God anymore and all of a sudden You begin to think that your God is like the gods of Baal see He thinks that the Lord God will sweep Elijah away and he'll be exposed and he'll die He thinks that God's a deceiver Where do you learn that from Not from the from the Bible he learned that because of his Infiltration of the society around him that caused him to think like they think Folks this is a really crucial point to understand I mean the Bible says the first Corinthians 1533 bad company corrupts good morals.

It does it really does and The more you're around the bad company and the more you hang around them The more that they begin to influence your life, that's why you need a haven of rest, you know We're gonna go off to school. I get that we're gonna go off to work. I get that it's in the world It's of the world and people there are sinful and people live sinful lifestyles And there's all kinds of temptation of the I understand that I get that and God said look don't take them out of the world But protect them from the evil one while they're in the world.

Listen, we got to go to work. We got a little school I understand that but but you need to understand That you need a haven of rest. You need a protective environment and that environment comes in two categories We'll talk about this on Sunday morning in a couple of weeks. It is the home environment and your church environment those two elements need to be the place of your refuge a place of security a place of stability a place of accountability You need to be able to go home at night to a home where the Word of God reigns supreme where the love of God reigns supreme where the people of God surround you with the Word of God and the love of God and Are there to pray for you and to admonish you and to help you and then you need to be a part of a church Environment where the Word of God is preached because it holds you accountable and that there are people there that hold you accountable Year weeks ago.

I was asked by several leadership why people leave the church The number one reason people leave the church is that they no longer want accountability They don't want to be held accountable for their actions and If they can leave a church that holds them accountable to go to one that doesn't then they can feel safe Enough to continue in their sin That's why they leave You stay in a church that's gonna hold you accountable That's gonna hold you to the standard of the Word of God You see when you're in that environment like Obadiah was the standard for your holiness becomes The people you that surround you and so your standard of holiness is King Ahab.

Well, he's an idolater He's immoral. He is married to Jezebel. He's a wretch. I'm not that bad. I love the Lord But my standard now has been so lowered because I compare myself to the king I compare myself to everybody in the king's palace and they're all immoral idolatrous pagans and you can't compare yourself to them God's the standard and Whenever God's standard is not held to a high esteem Then your standard is lowered Folks let me tell you something your home and Your church are the two essential elements you need to grow spiritually You must have them If you do not have them Your time in the world will engulf you overcome you and just take you down the road of Obadiah You need to have a place where you can pray and you can pray if people will pray with you You need to be part of a church where the Word of God is preached and holds you accountable to a standard that God himself provides Where people love you enough to confront you on your sin where they love you enough to hold you accountable to the standard of God's Holiness and God's purity where you can truly learn to sanctify your life so that it's set apart into God for his purposes But I didn't have that Didn't have that He began to think like the world thinks He had a misperception of God and all the while he had the opportunity to shine He could have been a partner with Elijah He could have been one of those men who stood strong Said to the king We are where we are because of you You need to repent turn your life around We didn't Because he had a good job with the king He had food and water He had money He had opportunity And that meant more to him Than to stand for truth and to live for his king Are you in Obadiah or are you in Elijah?

Where are you today? So Obadiah is a concern He's a lot like Lot was remember a lot You never know a lot was a believer as Peter told us in second Peter chapter 2 Because you see Lot Would enjoy the company of the homosexuals more than he would enjoy the company of Father Abraham And the homosexual lifestyle engulfed him and his family so much that when Abraham said Certainly there's got to be ten righteous in the city.

Will you spare the city for ten? God says yeah, I'll spare the city for ten But there wasn't Cuz Lot never said anything He led in the city gates He was one of the leaders in the city say well, what about what about Daniel?

What about Joseph listen Daniel and Joseph rose to prominence because of their testimony Daniel was willing to die in the lion's den because of his testimony. He's willing to throw his own life away Joseph for years Maintained his character living for the glory and honor of God maintain his purity and his holiness for the glory of God and Never never did he compromise and he rose to prominence in Egypt, but they did because of their testimony. Oh But I didn't He didn't And so it's important to understand How we live our lives in a sin sick society standing strong For the gospel never being afraid to lose our jobs never being afraid to Lose a promotion because we want to honor the King at every turn Next comes the confrontation with Ahab Elijah said is the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand I will surely show myself to him today So I open I went to meet a have verse 16 and told him and I have went to meet Elijah and when I have saw Elijah I have said to him is this you you troubler of Israel.

I Love that. You're the troubler of Israel And all he did was speak the truth Oh, by the way, if you read Acts 16, guess what? Paul and Silas were called the troublers of the city If you read Luke 22 Jesus stirred up confusion confusion, and he was a troubler in the city of Jerusalem So to be the troubler of a nation is a good thing. Not a bad thing The last thing you want is Ahab to commend you You want him to criticize you? You want him to speak against you you want him to condemn you Because if he's not condemning you guess what like he didn't condemn Obadiah, by the way If he's not condemning you that means you have become a friend of the world Elijah was no friend of the world.

He was a friend of his God to serve his God Is that you you troubler of Israel, let's know what Elijah says I Am not troubled Israel But you and your father's house have See Elijah wasn't the troublemaker Elijah was a troubleshooter see he says Because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals You Ahab Have forsaken the commandments of God What a powerful statement why because whenever you forsake the commandments of God you will always follow after evil and they did You forsake the commandments of God in your marriage your marriage will crumble You forsake the commandments of God in your home your home will crumble You forsake the commandments of God in your church your church will crumble You forsake the commandments of God in your nation and your nation will crumble you can't forsake the commandments of God you can't do that and Expect God to bless you This is so important to understand To grasp this is to understand what God wants you to do when it comes to following him as your king He wants you To serve him Let me share with you something.

I didn't share with you early on go back to first Kings 16 I'm gonna show you one way the commandments of God were forsaken We know that they were forsaken because they went after other gods and the Lord God said him over and over again Do not forsake me.

Do not worship the gods of the land. Do not do this He told them that over and over and over again But I want to show you just a verse that sometimes people just read over and miss it It's first Kings 16 verse number 34 in his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho He laid his foundations with the loss of a Byron his firstborn and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Zekub If you got a kid named Zekub you're in trouble anyway According to the Word of the Lord which he spoke by Joshua said of none Now go back to Joshua chapter 6 Joshua chapter 6 Joshua said this in verse 26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time saying cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and Builds this city Jericho with the loss of his firstborn He shall lay its foundation and with the loss of his youngest son, he shall set up its gates there was the curse and Israel was so used to not obeying the commands of God When Hiel the Bethelite decided to rebuild the walls of Jericho he lost his oldest son and he lost his youngest son exactly as Joshua had proclaimed the curse and Joshua chapter 6 They just didn't care what God said They would forsake the commandments of God My friend I cannot impress on you enough.

You cannot do that or Everything that you come in contact with is going to be destroyed You'll be in a famine of your own. Oh, you might not experience a famine right away Like Israel didn't experience a famine in week one or week two or week three or week four or week five It wasn't till into the year and then a second year in the third year where it got really really really bad and horrendous So you forsake the commandments of God and nothing really happens to you Everything kind of goes along as it's always gone And you don't repent and you continue to forsake the commandments of God Next thing, you know you find that your family's in a famine your church is in a famine your jobs in a famine because you Are forsaken the commandment of God?

But then What do you do? see That's where Elijah comes in See God has the nation right where he wants them He's got him beaten down. He's got him broken. He's got him dying. He's got him starving to death He's got him right where he wants them because when Elijah first appeared on the scene Israel wasn't ready to listen Elijah appears on a scene says hey, there's gonna be a famine except by my word or a drought except by my word.

No rain La dee da who cares big deal. No rain. Go ahead Elijah. Get out of here. Nobody cared Until it never rained and there was no dew in the dry season Then they began to care But at the outset they didn't care It's like people to come to church and tell him look you can't forsake the commands of God and everything's going good. They don't care Okay And then all of a sudden the famine is severe and they're dying on the vine Then what That's where the nation is see God's got him right where he wants him right where he Wants Me apply it to you this way people ask and Pray For God to bless America, let me tell you something if God doesn't judge America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah That's how bad it is People say will God bless America can God bless America should God bless America God cannot bless America without doing irreparable damage to his holy character Kenna We hear from one party the Democratic Party.

We need to make our nation whole again We hear from the other side the Republican Party we didn't make America great again Let me tell you something America is going nowhere fast Real fast and you know what America doesn't see it They think they can transform By laws laws don't transform The Lord transforms Laws can't And the Bible's made it very clear very clear and the Church of America Doesn't necessarily like to hear it, but it's true Peter said it.

Well if judgment's going to begin let it begin first in the house of God, right? That's what Peter said The Old Testament is a verse that directly applies only to Israel But we like to use it at national prayer breakfasts and all kinds of things like that You know Well at 2nd Chronicles 7 verse number 14 that if my people who are called by my name Shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land that verse is Specifically applied to the nation of Israel, okay But note this the phraseology is crucial if the land is to be healed sins must be forgiven If sins are forgiven God says my people Didn't say the Canaanites the Jebusites the Amorites The termites He didn't say anything to them if my people who are called by my name It begins in the church the roots of spirituality and morality in our nation begins in the church It begins with the church Because of the people which the church is are called by my name which we are if we humble ourselves if we seek his face if we pray if we Turn from our wicked ways He will hear from heaven.

He will forgive our sins. He will heal the land, but it begins with the church That's where it begins It's always began with God's people Always And the Lord does say this book of Jeremiah 18 verse number 7 God says at one moment.

I might speak concerning a nation or concerning the kingdom to uproot to pull down or Destroy it God says, you know what?

I might speak to this nation or to that nation and say you know what? I'm going to uproot you I am going to destroy I am going to obliterate you And they says this if that nation Against which I have spoken turns from its evil I Will relent concerning the calamity I plan to bring on it God says I might go to this nation or to that nation that kingdom or this kingdom and say you know what you're done It is over But if that kingdom turns from their wickedness turns from their evil I Will relent And I will spare them That's the mercy of God the kindness of God But it's conditioned on their repentance like it was for Nineveh Right they relented Or they repented and God relented did not destroy the nation and and Jonah was was furious because he knew God would do that He knew that if he preached the gospel Nineveh would repent and if they repented God would relent from destroying them and then they would live and Jonah didn't want them to Live he wanted them to die but that's the way God is and God told Israel Here all my people I will admonish you Oh Israel if you would listen to me Let there be no strange God among you nor shall you worship any foreign God but my people did not listen to my voice and Israel did not obey me So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices.

Oh That my people would listen to me That Israel would walk in my ways. Oh I would quickies to do their enemies turn my hand against their adversaries I would feed them with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock. I would satisfy them Oh if they would just listen to me and turn from their ways It's all God asks Turn come to me Follow me and I will satisfy you God was going to use Elijah to turn the nation back To him. He brought them to a place of supreme devastation Got them to a place where they at the end of their proverbial rope.

There was no place to go There was no food to eat. There was no water to drink Everybody was dying People were emaciated the nation Was being obliterated And God says now's the time You go present yourself to Ahab Because I'm gonna send rain I'm gonna send rain.

No, I'm gonna rain Cuz my people they're gonna repent They're gonna turn and they're gonna recognize that I am the true and living God America is not there America is in Romans chapter 1 God gave them over to their sensuality God gave them over three times says God gave them over God gave them over God gave them over To the wickedness into the greediness of their hearts to their homosexual lifestyle to their their bestiality Lifestyle God just gives you over that is the worst kind of judgment that God can do because it's called the wrath of abandonment God says, okay.

You want to do that? Go ahead Go ahead Do what you're gonna do Because I'm done That's where America is Romans chapter 1 and so God admonishes you and me God will transform American lives If they repent if they turn from their wicked ways James says it this way James chapter 4. He says These words Submit therefore to God resist the devil. He will flee from you draw near to God He will draw near to you cleanse your hands your you sinners purify your hearts You're double-minded be miserable and worn weep Let your laughter be turned into mourning your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord He will exalt you but you must purify yourselves.

You must come to him. You must bow before him in submission You must come before him repenting of your sins Crying out for mercy mourning over your sins Do you think America's at that place? I? Don't think so There are people who are in America who are at that place Most of you have been at that place and God saved you That's what God does and so Elijah is being used by God as a rod of judgment upon a nation He's a spokesperson. He's the messenger and God did exactly what he said he was going to do and it has not reigned And God says to Ahab you have forsaken the commandment of God you have followed the prophets of Baal You are the trouble of Israel.

Not me. You are the reason the nation is where it is It's you Ahab. It's you and you only Ahab. He pointed the finger right at it. It's you man It's not me No, I'm the troubleshooter I got the answer I got the solution So what did Ahab do He gathered him together Gather all of Israel They can make it up the hill of Mount Carmel get him up there. You don't have much strength left. Get him up there Get the prophets of Baal get him on top of Mount Carmel You bring in all 450 prophets of Baal all hundred four hundred prophets of Asherah who stood at Jezebel's table you bring them there and There will be a showdown And my God will win Elijah's calling them out.

I love Elijah No holds bar You're the man You have forsaken you have followed the Baals. It's you not me The nation is where it is because of your sin Ahab you've led them this way But I'm here as an ambassador of the Living God to lead them out of their misery out of their treachery out of their Idolatry out of their immorality that they might serve the one true God of Israel stage is set For Mount Carmel And next time we get together We're gonna see the showdown On that mountain, let's pray father.

We thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity to be together We thank you Lord that you challenge every single one of us to live for the glory and honor of your kingdom Our prayer Lord is that you would move in all of our hearts that we might honor your name We pray that we would not be like Obadiah. We would remain silent in front of the king Silent in front of the king's wife Silent in the palace, but we would speak forth the truth never holding back that which needs to be spoken because the Word of God needs to be proclaimed loudly and clearly from those who are Your children we pray in Jesus name.

Amen