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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends, on this important last weekend in October.
Halloween is an unusual, strange, and to me, an unexplainable event every year on the American calendar. It seems to be an evening set aside to celebrate all that is harmful. Candy is perhaps the worst possible food for children and yet on Halloween, adults give bagfuls of candy to children. Fear is the emotion we try to protect children from the most, yet on Halloween, front yard displays of skeletons and the scariest movies of the year, and ‘haunted houses’ are all made by adults to arouse fear! The contrast between normal God honoring living and Halloween is dramatic, isn’t it? So I wonder what Halloween means to you, my friends?
Sunday is November 1st and as we turn the calendar, the whole world is holding its breath, as the long awaited American election, may dramatically change America and the world, for a long time to come. The contrast between the Republican and Democratic positions on important issues and especially Biblical values, could not be greater. That contrast is dramatically seen in the Vice Presidential candidates, and considering the age of the Presidential candidates, it is entirely possible one of those VP’s may be the American president within the next four years!
I hear the cry from history, do you my friends? “How long will you waver between two opinions?” Do you recognize that challenge? These past several days we’ve been learning important lessons from the history of Israel, which inform us here, in 2020. In our journey, we’ve arrived at about 865bc, the time when wicked Ahab was king of Israel. God raised up the prophet Elijah to challenge Ahab and Jezebel in their evil leadership of the people. In response to the people’s abandonment of God, God had stopped the rain from falling and drought was consuming the land.
Yesterday we saw how God provided food daily for Elijah, a widow and her son, in Zarephath, Jezebel’s home territory. Today old prophet Elijah invites us to join him, king Ahab, 450 prophets of Baal, and thousands of Israeli people, on the top of Mount Carmel, as Elijah cries out “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21)
That challenge really fits with this weekend, doesn’t it? Is Halloween just a silly, meaningless evening, or is it a weapon of the devil and dark kingdom to attract the interest of children in things of the occult? Is the election next week simply a political process of choosing leaders, or is it a profound battle for the soul of America, being fought especially on the battlefield of some of the things most important to God?
* Sanctity of human life
* Sanctity of marriage and family
* God designed Gender identity and God designed relationships between both genders
* Religious freedom…the role of God, the Bible, Prayer, worship in society
and much more. . .
So let’s join Elijah and this huge gathering of people, at a critical moment of decision in human history. You’ll find the report in 1 Kings 18. Ahab is feeling the pain of the drought. Animals and people are dying under his hard hearted, God rejecting leadership. Ahab sends some trusted leaders of his administration out looking for water and pasture for their dying animals. Notice Ahab’s ‘palace administrator’, perhaps we’d call that a ‘chief of staff’ today, is named Obadiah and is described as “…a devout believer in the LORD. Who, while Jezebel was killing off the LORD’s prophets, had taken 100 prophets of the LORD and hidden them in two caves…and supplied them with food and water.” (1 Kings 18:3,4)
Now think about that just a moment. Do you see how Obadiah is risking his life and his high level political position, everyday, in order to be God honoring not only in his private heart, but his public actions! Does that describe you and me, my friends? In these crazy times of political confusion, moral decline, antagonism toward God and His Word the Bible, where do you stand in your heart and in public? Don’t rush too quickly away from Obadiah… let him serve as a courageous example. He’s the kind of people God is looking to strengthen and work through to impact our world in 2020! Do you agree?
You’ve undoubtedly read this great chapter before, so go ahead and refresh your memory by reading it yet once again, and place yourself there on Mount Carmel. Get up close to the front of the crowd so you don’t miss anything… close enough that you can see Elijah’s face and that of Ahab too. Feel the tension, the passion of 450 prophets of Baal desperately trying to arouse some response from the lifeless idol of Baal that they worship. Look, they are actually cutting themselves with knives in their desperation… and Ahab is shouting, demanding that they prove the legitimacy of their claim that Baal really is a god! Do you hear it… fear rising up in their voices, as they begin to wonder what might happen to them if they fail, and what will happen when Elijah calls on his God?
Here, let’s help them carry the buckets of precious water, pouring it over the altar that Elijah has repaired and the bull he has sacrificed and placed on the wood on that altar. Now just stand back and watch as old Elijah calls on the name of Jehovah God whom he has served all his life. This God is the same God of Moses who led the people through the Red Sea, or Joshua and the people when Jericho’s walls fell, or Samuel when God sent thunder to paralyze an enemy army with fear, or even the same God who had raised a widow’s son to life back in Zarephath only a few weeks ago! Listen, did you hear what Elijah just shouted up to heaven: “…let it be known today that YOU are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things as Your command. Answer me LORD, so these people will know that You, LORD, are God and that You are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36,37)
Let me ask you my friends, wherever you live around the world, WHO are the Elijah’s of our day? Courageous, full of faith men and women, standing tall and strong in the pandemic of Coronavirus, and riots in the streets, and the political chaos, and the calls to ‘defund the police’, and the widespread rejection of God all around. . .WHO are the Elijah’s standing strong and calling on God . . .and expecting God’s powerful response? Are you an Elijah today?
Do you suppose the very same God who responded that day on Mount Carmel, is ready to respond in similar ways in our day? What is He waiting for? Perhaps God is waiting for modern day Elijah’s all around the world!! How much longer will God have to wait before both He and we see an Elijah?
Look closely at what happened in response to Elijah’s call that day! God sent a fireball from heaven! No, it didn’t burn up the whole mountain, and it didn’t burn any of the people. It was a focused, specific response from God…a fire ball that struck ONLY the altar, but it fully consumed the sacrifice and even the water in the trench around the altar! Take note of that. God loves to respond in very specific ways, at specific moments, in response to specific opportunities for God to prove Himself… the one and only Almighty, Holy God! Are you and I providing God those opportunities my friends?
In closing, please notice it wasn’t enough for God to drop a fireball from heaven to that mountain. God’s response to Elijah’s cry required a response, a decision from the people. Remember Elijah had challenged them “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. If Baal is God, follow him.” So now, God proved that He alone is God and Baal was nothing but a theory, a lifeless idol. Now it was time for the people to declare their decision and more…to act on that decision!
Notice please what they did. They declared: “The LORD He is God.” And they acted! They killed all 450 prophets of Baal who had been deceiving the people for so long. Now I don’t sense God is calling us to kill those who have opposed Him for so long in the countries where we live, but I am asking this: Have you declared who is God in your life, your family, your home? Are you taking the actions necessary to remove all things from your life that have been drawing you away from God, or rejecting God? Are you living like an Elijah…fully trusting God for everything everyday, and obediently following God, providing Him opportunities to demonstrate His mighty power in and through your life? Are your prayers like Elijah’s, inviting God’s powerful work in very practical ways where you live?
I suggest we stop right now and have extended, reflective conversation with God. And after we speak with Him, just sit quietly and listen to God…with your Bible open to 1 Kings 18. I wonder what God is ready to say into your heart and mind today?
Almighty, Holy God. God of Moses and Samuel and Elijah, and our God, we lift our hearts, our mind, our lives to YOU today asking that You help us see what needs to happen in each of our lives, so that You might see us ready for Your great work in our lives so we could be a modern day Elijah? Are YOU ready, O God, to pour out some of Your mighty power into our world in a spectacular way, and are we ready to call people to recognize what You are doing and turn their hearts back to You? Holy Spirit, would You please speak now to us as we sit quietly listening to You? With our Bibles open we are ready to hear You!
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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