Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you, if you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. As we were singing that song about how great our God is. I want to ask you a serious question that I wasn't going to ask when I began this message, but the question is. Did you sing it?
Or did you mean it? Because I'm going to ask you a question today. Repeatedly. That you've got to make a decision about. I do every day.
In fact, I don't think I've ever lived in our country in a day where Christians. are more forced to make a decision than they are today. And the question I want to ask simply is. Whose side are you on? We have a saying down south.
The only thing in the middle of the road is two yellow lions and a dead possum. You can't sit in the middle of the road. You've got to make a decision. I was reading about a little boy, six-year-old boy. His name was Robert.
And his uncle was getting married, and the family really wanted him to participate in the wedding, but they already had a ring bearer, so they were trying to figure out what they could do with six-year-old Robert.
So his grandfather pulls him aside and he says, Look, I want you to help me guide people where they're supposed to sit. He said, okay, Pop, what do you want me to do? He said, well, you've got to be got to be proper and you've got to use good etiquette. And he said, so, Robert, all you have to do is you just ask when someone walks up to you, are you a guest of the bride or are you a guest of the groom? He said, then you'll know exactly where to start and where to seat these people.
Now, do you understand how to do it? He said, Yeah, Pop, I've got that. I can handle that.
Well, this proud grandfather stood back and decided to let his six-year-old grandson take the first couple that walked in. And he was smiling big until the horror hit his face. When our first copper walked in, that six-year-old boy stuck his hand out to the woman and said, Now, ma'am. Whose side are you on? Well, that's a great question.
Whose side Are you all? And I'm not talking about choosing between a bride and a groom. I'm not even talking about choosing between a Republican or a Democrat. I'm talking about but choosing between The real God And the false God. I'm talking about by and large, where do you choose?
Do you choose God's Word? Or do you choose human opinion? Do you choose to be faithful? Or do you choose to be? popular.
Do you choose conviction? Or do you choose compromise? Because if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, and I say that not just loosely. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, You're living in a culture today more than at any time since I've lived in this country where you've got to decide whose side you're on.
Now, if you decide what I believe is the clear teaching of Scripture, for example, And you teach and preach what you believe, the Bible clearly says, then you're going to be called everything from racist. To homophobic? To misogynists? To the most unpardonable word somebody will ever give you, which is. Intolerant.
So you have a choice. We all have the same choice every day. You can Go along. And get along. Or you can go alone.
and be rejected. One choice will help you live the good life. But one choice will lead you to lead The god life. One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament. In fact, I have a Mount Rushmore of Old Testament characters.
And I can back up and tell you why I don't have the time. But there's Moses. Abraham, David, and Elijah. Elijah makes my mount rush more. He's one of my favorite guys in the Bible.
He is still revered today by the Jewish nation. I don't know whether you know this or not, but every Passover, if you are an observant, devout Jew, you will always leave an extra cup of wine at the dinner table, and you'll always leave your front door open because you're hoping that Elijah will at least walk. Into your house. You probably don't know this, but you can go back and check the facts. The New Testament talks about Elijah from Matthew to Revelation.
The New Testament talks about Elijah more than any other prophet in the Old Testament, and there's a reason for that. He was God's man. But not just God's man. Just as important, the Apostle James tells something that encourages me. James said about Elijah: he was a man just like us.
He was a man just like you. He was a man just like me. And so when I read the life of Elijah, I read two things. Wow. What a man of God.
And then I'll say, and you know what? By the power of God. Men and women can just live the same God life. But he did. And that brings me.
to one of my favorite stories. in the Bible. When I go preach somewhere, I tell you something I got away from a long time ago. I don't preach sugar sticks. I don't go, well, what really hit the home run in my church?
And I do that.
Now I go, Lord, where am I preaching? And who I'm preaching to?
So, when your pastor so greatly, and again, I'm so humble that he asked me, when your pastor said, Hey, will you come preach for me?
So, with all that's going on, and don't worry, I don't ever get political.
So, but with all that's going on in our country, your country, people kind of get a little hard on California, to be honest. I got news for you. We got the same problems in Georgia, you got in California. We might be a little more conservative with our governor, and we might be in Florida, whatever. Let me tell you something the Bible says about all of us.
This is gonna sound encouraging and discouraging at the same time. You ready for this? We're all jacked up. We just jacked up in different ways. You got your issues, I got my issues.
California's got theirs, Florida's got theirs. We're all jacked up. But when I thought about coming to California and some of the unique problems that you have here, and then some of the microcosmic problems you have all across the country, I said, the Lord just said, this is what I want you to preach. It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible. As a matter of fact, I've been to Israel almost 30 times.
And one of my favorite places, hoping to go next year if the war dies down. If the war doesn't die down, I'm sending Teresa. But anyway. We're supposed to go next year. And I miss it, but one of my favorite places is a place we usually go to the first day I'm there is we go to a place called Mount Carmel.
We may have a picture, I think, throws it up on the screen. Mount Carmel, it's a majestic mountain. Because when you stand on the summit, You can look west, you see the Mediterranean Sea, and you look east, and you see this spectacular panorama stretches all the way from the Galilean mountains down to the village of Nazareth, right down to the Megiddo Valley, that's Armageddon. And then there's this statue, by the way, of Elijah. We may show that picture.
When you go up there, there's a statue. There's a picture of Elijah there at Mount Carmel. And every time I go, I'll always stand and I'll always look at that and I'm reminded of this fantastic story. It was one of the greatest showdowns in history.
So let me just take tastes, tell you what's going on. Let me give you the background because it's just exactly where California is. It's just exactly where Georgia is, and where Nebraska is, and where Connecticut is, and frankly, where the United States of America is. Because back in that day, Israel was in the middle of a dark... depressing, discouraging.
time especially If you did follow God, especially if you did believe the word of God. Especially if you did believe that God was real and you wanted to be all that God wanted you to be. Because everywhere you looked in Israel, north, South. East, west, everywhere you looked. You saw the same three things over.
And over and over. You saw sexual immorality. You saw spiritual Idolatry. And you saw social. Indifference.
Everywhere. Didn't matter where you looked. Every city, every hamlet, country city, town, didn't matter, sexual immorality. Spiritual idolatry, social indifference. I want you to go back 3,000 years, you're an Israelite.
And you love God and you want to follow God, but you somehow can't find God anywhere. And I mean, it was horrible. The people had turned away from God. They began to worship this God called Baal.
Now, worshiping Baal had, it was really involved ritual sex. If you can imagine this, priests and priestesses would have sex with people who came to worship. Baal. And so when you went, everybody, I mean, church attendance wasn't a problem. Every Sunday was high attendance day.
There were these large orgies going on because they thought that the way you communicated with the God of Baal was through sexual. Immorality, commonly accepted.
Well, of course, that led to spiritual idolatry. They worship this false God. They worshiped a God that didn't even exist, his name. Was Baal.
Now you may say, well, Pastor, you know, James, at least, we don't worship Baal. No, we don't.
Now's a more sophisticated like Money. Success. Sports Popularity. Stir. political power.
Same God, just... Change the name. But what was worst of all, there was this social indifference. The God who created this world, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he wasn't even on their radar screen. The vast majority of church, the only reason they went to church, so to speak, was the reason that I told you.
God's house had been abandoned. God's word was ignored. God's commands were disregarded. Israel, put it this way: spiritually speaking, Israel was at rock bottom. They could not go any Lower.
So now we come to 1 Kings chapter 18. Here's what we read. After a long time in the third year, The Word of God. The word of God After a long time in the third year, the word of God came to Elijah, and Elijah said to Ahab, I will send rain. Oma Lamb.
I was sitting right, here's what had happened. Israel was in the middle of this dark, depressing discouraging day. And if you are a follower of God, It was just a bad, bad time.
Well, God had sent Elijah to Ahab the king, and they weren't big buddies. And so he goes to Ab and he says, God is so displeased with you. And God is so displeased with the nation. And God is so displeased with what things are. There will be no rain for three years.
God's going to turn this picket off. There won't be one drop of rain.
Well, after he told Elijah that, God told Adahem to go hide. Get away. He said, he'll be hunting you. Go hide.
So, Elijah's been missing for three years. He's public enemy, number one. He's not been found anywhere.
So, now these three years have passed. Elijah has been missing in action for three years because God had told him he will try to kill you, so you make sure you get away.
So, he's got an APB out on him for three years. He's the most wanted man in all of Israel. He's gone into the witness protection program. But now God says to Elijah, Elijah, It's time. to talk.
So The search is over. Elijah, all of a sudden one day, he shows up. I think that's a good idea. And Ahab is happy at first until he realizes, I'm no longer looking for you, Ahab.
Now you're looking for me. It's not going to be a good thing.
So Elijah is one man against a king. One man against the queen, one man against an entire nation. Everybody wants Elijah dead. The only people that don't want Elijah dead are his family and what few friends he has. Everybody wants this man.
Go on.
So as you remember this story, as you remember what we're about to say to you, as you remember the punchline I'm about to give you, please remember this truth. When you step up for God. God will step out for you. When you step out for God. God will step up.
For you. If you want to be on the right side in this day and age in which we live, It's not a matter of being a Democrat or a Republican. It's not a matter of being conservative or liberal. It's not a matter of being a progressive or right-winger. It's not a matter of that.
Are you on God's side or on the other side?
Now, you say, Pastor, I, James, I want to be on God's side, all right? This is where the rubber hits the road. And this is where the talk. has to become The walk. And this is where we all, me included, Find out just how serious are we about following Jesus.
Just how serious are we about our faith? Are we truly as gung-ho on Monday morning as we have been here on Sunday? morning.
Well, we'll find out because there are three things you have to do. If you're going to be on the right side, number one. We must deny false gods. We must deny false gods. The way this meeting was set up.
was through a man named Oberdire.
Now, let me tell you: Obadiah. Obadiah was a strange guy. Obedient was a believer. He was one of the secret believers. He was in the secret service.
He did love God. And yet he was the right-hand man to the king. He was kind of the CFO. He oversaw the affairs of the palace.
Well, he's going to be the go-between. He doesn't want to be the go-between, but he's going to be the go-between between Ahab and Elijah to bring these two mortal enemies back together.
So we keep reading.
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria. And Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. while Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets. Obadiah was taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.
Obadiah is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. He is a true believer, no doubt about it. He is a follower of God, no doubt about it. But just like a lot of us today, when we get out into the secular world, when we go to our office downtown, when we walk into our political arena, wherever it might be, when we go to our school class. We just kind of blend in with the crowd.
We're just like everybody else. We're in the witness protection. Program. We have God in our heart. But we don't let him out.
We have faith. But we keep it. to ourselves. And after all, I cut him a little slack. I get it.
Because if Ahab And this terrible wife of his. Jezebel, by the way, you'll never meet a woman named Jezebel if you do run. Here's Ahab. Here's Jezebel. And he knows.
If they find out... Who I am. I won't live. Until sundown.
So he had made a very pragmatic decision. I'd rather breathe. Then stand for God. I'd rather live another day than let anybody know. But I love God.
So We have to remember. He is Absalom serving Abhab, who is, by the way, in the Old Testament, the most vile, wicked, godless, corrupt king Israel had ever known. He's got this dominating wife named Jezebel. Remember, this is a time when the rulers are marked by iniquity. The nation was drowning in idolatry.
And the missing element was integrity.
Sounds a lot like a country we live in. Kind of a mirror image.
Well, against his wishes kicking and screaming. Elijah tells him, Obadiah, go set up a meeting between me. And Ahab. He doesn't want to do it. But he does it.
So he goes to the king and he says, King. A. Elijah's back. And you need to meet with him.
Well, the meeting doesn't start. Very well. Verse 19, verse 16.
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab. and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? Three years they hadn't seen each other.
What a warm greeting this was Not Hey, Elijah. How you been, dude? Not Elijah.
So good to see you. Hey Elijah, I barbecued some beef outside. Let's go have dinner. No, he looks at Elijah. And he says, you snake in the grass.
That's what the word literally means, snake. You snake in the grass. You troubler of Israel. You piece of you know what. He wanted to give him a cussing and a tongue-lashing, like you could admit.
His rage was boiling over. What? What in the world are you doing here? You're nothing but a right-wing conspiracy that wants to bring my administration all the way. To the ground.
Now, to be honest. Just like a lot of politicians, you know what Ahab's doing? If you watch this, let me teach you a little lesson. Ahab is atypical Politician.
So what do you mean? Think about it. Have you ever noticed? How a politician will create a problem for us. and then blame us for the problem and try to get us to solve it.
Now, just think about this. I'm going to give you a great example. I'm not getting to politics, we're talking common sense. We all know governments, by and large, your state is guilty of it, our country's guilty of it. We all know that our governments.
Are running massive deficits. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. It's not a political statement, it's a factual statement. They are running massive deficits, and our deficit is increasing every single day.
So what is the brilliant solution? that most politicians want to come up with. Let's raise. Your taxes. Ma wait a minute.
I'm not causing the problem. I'm giving you my taxes. Yeah, I know, but we're spending more than you're giving us. Oh, okay, so your solution is what? That I give you more money.
Let me get this straight. You created the problem, and you're blaming me for it, and you want me to solve it. You see what I'm saying? It's the same thing right here. He says, you have caused me all of this problem.
Ben Carson put it best when he said this. We've been conditioned to think. That only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, maybe we will wake up and recognize it was the politicians who created the problems. Just a thought.
Elijah He is not a troublemaker. That is not his job. He's a troubleshooter. He was just identifying the real troublemaker.
So here's what he says. I've not made more trouble for Israel, Elijah said. But you and your father. You have abandoned the Lord's command, and you have followed the Baals. He said, Let me tell you something, King.
Don't blame me for your problem. You created the problem, it is your problem, and here's the problem: you and your father before you, you. Forsake. You turned your back. You went away from the God of prosperity.
Don't blame me for what's happened. God has brought this judgment because of you. You're the reason there's been no rain for three years. Not me. You're the one that turns your back on God, and because of that, God turned his back on God.
On you, because when you take the false sides of the false gods of this world, you immediately go against the true God of this world.
So you've got to make a choice. This world, listen to me. This state is not big enough for two gods. This world is not big enough for two gods. Ma'am, husband, wife, your home is not big enough for two gods.
Sir, your life is not big enough for two gods. You have got. to choose. Elijah. Being the man that he is.
No fear. No favor. He throws down the gauntlet. He draws a line. in the dirt.
Okay, about it, guys. We're going to put our cards. on the table. It's time for a showdown. at high noon.
Verse 19.
Now Summon the people from over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him. I have no problem. With every preacher that's called of God in America, it is time to make that statement.
Make up your mind. If political power is your God, follow it. If money is your God, follow it. If military might is your God, follow it. But if God is your God, follow him.
It is time to make the call. It is time to draw the line.
So Up to this time, The feet of the people had been firmly planted in mid-air. They don't know what Today. But Elijah said, those days are over. I'm going to force this entire nation to make a decision. And he lets them know the same thing.
That I'm letting these followers of us today know, and that is, you're obligated. To let everybody on this planet know, and that is, nobody can serve two gods, but everybody's going to serve one. I don't know any of you in this room, but I know something about every one of you in this room. You will walk out that door today serving one God. You may think you can serve two, you may think you can keep one foot in the church and one foot in the world.
You cannot. You will serve God or you will serve some other God, but there's only room for one. And you've got to make up your mind: which God am I going? to serve.
Now you talk about being politically incorrect. Because when you tell someone today, you got to choose which God you're going to serve. You've got to choose which truth you're going to believe. You're going to choose which principles you are going to adopt. And there's only one right choice.
Let me tell you something. You're going to lose friends by the bushels. And you will lose votes when you start running for political office. And people are going to call you things that are not true about you at all. But if we don't stand, if we do not stand against false gods and fail to stand for the only true God, we're going to be in even deeper trouble.
So we must Deny. false gods. Number two. We must defend The true guide. We must offend the true God.
Now, Elijah believes what I call a put-up or shut-up theology, so he poses a test. He says, look. Let's get two bulls for us. Let Baal's prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bowl, and put it on the wood, but not fire to it.
Then you call on the name of the Lord. Of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God who answers by fire, He is God. Let me just stop right there. You gotta love this guy.
Yeah, yeah. It's just my kind of guy. I mean, it's just my kind of guy. That's the guy I wanted my next door neighbor. If I'm a football player, you're my left tackle.
If I'm a CEO, you're my CFO. If I'm a general. You're the lieutenant general. I want you right. Beside me, you're the guy.
Because you're willing to step out in faith, you're willing to step up your faith, and you're willing to show people what you really believe, whether they like it or whether they don't. You are. Awesome. And I'm going to say this and you just take it for where it's worth. My mentor, Adrian Rogers, used to say: throw a rock at a pack of dogs and one that barks and the one that gets hit.
This is a thought, and I take it very seriously for myself. Maybe more people out there. Would believe what we say we believe in here. If we really lived like we believe it out there. Just a thought.
Maybe more people out there. We believe what we say we believe and sing we believe in here. If we lived like we believed it. Out there. It's time.
to stand up and realize it's not enough just to deny. False gods. We've got to defend the true God.
So the crowds are gathered both sides of the street. It was magnificent. One side of the street, you've got one guy, God's prophet, Elijah. On the other side, you've got eight 450 prophets. A bail.
And really, it's more like on one side of the street is a false God, and the other side of the street is the true God. True God.
Now, Elijah knows what he's doing. Let me tell you why. Let me take you a little background. Baal was the God who specialized in rain and thunder. But for three years and rained.
So Bale's not looking too good.
Well In effect, Elijah said, look, Maybe bales run out of water. Maybe we need to help him start a fire. Because after all, Bear was also the God of a son. And so Elijah says, look. Since you believe it controls all the crops and all the productivity of the land, and since he is an effective God of climate control, let's just give him another shot.
Water hadn't been doing too well for him. Let's try. Fire.
Now don't miss this part. Elijah. He's a man. And he can get tough. He get hard.
But he's gracious. And he's sweet. And he's kind. And so he says to the prophets, You go first. Go ahead.
You go first. How about it? You pray to your God. And I'll pray to my God. And the God who answers?
The fire? He's God.
Now I want to say something here that will have a lot of practical application. Do you notice that Elijah is totally unafraid of their prayers? Very interesting.
Now you go in and pray. When I grew up in school, we used to have prayer in school. How many of you grew up in a day when they used to have prayer in school?
Some of you remember that, right?
Well, they shut it down. And one of the excuses they gave was: well, now, if you have Christians' prayers. Then you've got to have Hindu prayers, and you're going to have Buddhist prayers, and you've got to have Muslim prayers. This is my attitude.
Okay. Let him try. I'm not ever. Going to get money. I want to make sure my child never has to fear a false prayer to a false God.
I'm willing to put my Christian God prayer up every time I get a chance in a public school. Let them pray. Let him pray. No problem. Let's go.
So. Let the Buddha let him go he says look I'm not afraid of a false prayer to a false God.
So the prophet Isaiah said this: they pray to gods that cannot save. Why would I fear a God? And why would I fear a prayer to a God that not only does it say, but He does not even exist? But I love Elijah for another reason. Don't I love him?
Jonathan, forgive me this. He's a trash talker. Anybody anybody love to play golf in here? Anybody would play golf? If I ever get a chance, any of you guys raising, if I'm back, I'd love to play golf with you.
But I want to warn you, I'm a pastor, but I'm a trash talker. I do. I love it. I was playing with one of my buddies the other day. I'm telling you, I said, I never played with him before.
In fact, this was last Friday. He was new, and his name's Jack Smith. I told Jack I was going to tell this story. After three holes, I told Jack, I said, Jack, I've only seen two terrible golfers in my life, and you're both of them. I mean I love trash talking.
I mean, I'm just a big trash talker. I really am. I love it. Well, Elijah, I love Elijah. He is a trash talker.
Listen what he says.
So they're lighting the fire and all this.
So here we go. Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your God, but do not light the fire.
So they took the bowl given them and prepared it. Then they called in the name of Baal from morning till noon. Baal, answer us, they shouted. But there was no response and no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made at noon.
Elijah began to taunt them. That's Hebrew for trash talk. Elijah began to taunt them. Shout louder, he said. Surely he's a God.
Perhaps he's deep in thought. Maybe he's busy. I'll get back to that in a moment. are traveling. Maybe he's sleeping and must be awakened.
So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as there was custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their franks, their evening sacrifice, but there was no response. No one answered, and no one paid attention. Just get that story. Hour after hour after hour, these guys are jumping and they're dancing and they're slashing and they're screaming.
You know, Elijah's over there going, Get them, boys, let them have it. Jump higher. Get louder. You can do it. Let's go.
And I mean, they're just wearing themselves out. It reminds me of an old country bumpkin from Mississippi, and he's just a country boy. But somehow a buddy of his had gone to an Ivy League school and invited him up to come see his school.
So he's told me, he said, Look, we're going to this big sorority party, so try to be, you know, act cool.
Okay, he says, sure, I can do that. And so they get up to the gets up there. And there's a bunch of beautiful girls in this particular sorority house. He's trying to be cool. And so he goes up there and he goes.
Where y'all from? And the girl said, Yale. He said, where y'all from? Just get louder. Get louder.
Just man, try to get louder. But It's not working. And so these false prophets are about to learn, it's not how loud you shout, it's not how high you jump, it's who you're talking to that matters. Listen to me. A whisper in the ear of God.
By one godly man is more powerful than the shouts of an unbelieving world to a God who doesn't even exist.
So, Elijah. Does he let up? Oh no, he's just getting into it. This is kind of paraphrased in the Hebrew.
Well, maybe the battery in his hearing is dead. Maybe he's too busy to answer the phone. Maybe he too took many sleeping pills. He says, maybe he's too busy. You're going to love this.
In the Hebrew language, you know what that word busy literally means? Maybe he's sitting on the toilet. Elijah says, ha. Maybe his laxative isn't working. I don't know what's going on.
I mean, I love this guy, he is not letting up.
So finally they give up.
Now it's Elijah's turn. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come here to me. They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. He took 12 stones, one from each of the tribe descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Your name shall be Israel. With the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two bills of seed.
He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, Fill four large jars with water, pour it on the offering, on the wood. Do it again, he said. They did it again, do it a third time, he offered, and they did it the third time. And the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
Elijah says, I want to make sure you understand this is not hopeless focus. This is not magic. I've got nothing up my sleeve. It's me and that altar and a lot of water and my prayer, and that's all I've got. I want you to make sure that you understand that whatever's about to happen has nothing to do with that altar, has nothing to do with the water, has nothing to do with me, doesn't even have anything to do with prayer.
Everything that's about to happen has to have to do with the prayer. with the only God that is real. And so A line is drawn in the dirt. And everybody's got to make a choice. Everybody's got to have to decide.
It's what Elijah had said at the very beginning. How long will you waver? Whose side are you on? He says, How long do you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if not, follow him.
So the last thing is. We must declare. The only God. We must declare the only God.
Now, you know the story if you've read it, right? The firefalls. And the whole thing goes up in smoke. Everybody's watching in awe. These false prophets have given everything they had trying to get their God to answer.
They're on the ground, exhausted, breathing heavy. They can't even stand up. All the shouting, all the screaming, all the wailing, yelling, all the dancing, all the jumping, all the mutilating, all of that had produced absolutely nothing. Just like today, people go to church and people go to temples and people give money and people do this, that, and do all these rituals. And just like reading the other day when President Trump said, well, just maybe if I do this good deed, it will get me into heaven.
All of our goodness is just like filthy rags before a holy and a righteous God. You don't have anything he needs or anything he wants except your heart. And so Elijah, he has that, and God knows that. He's got Elijah's heart. And Elijah says, This all came from him.
Make sure that you understand that. It's all about God. And so now he says to everybody, okay, boys, now you've got to make a choice. Everybody's got to decide. It's what he said already.
They've given everything they've got. Then Elijah steps up. This is the greatest part of this whole thing. He has watched these guys for hours wear themselves out, hours and hours. And Elijah steps up, and they're expecting the Gettysburg address.
He gets up. You ready for this? Count his prayer. You know how long his prayer was? Sixty two words.
Took less than 16 seconds. Here's what we read. At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be known today that you are the God of Israel. I am your servant. I've done all these things at your command.
Answer me, Lord. Answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back again.
Now, listen to what he prayed for. He did not say, God, I want you to show Israel what a great prophet I am. He didn't say that. He said, God. I want you to show these people what great power that I have.
You didn't say that. He said, God. I want you to show Israel what a great God you are. He wasn't interested. in making Israel great again.
He wanted to make Israel godly again. Because greatness is in godliness. Greatness. Quick thought. Not a pol not political.
Mick for gets there just by accident. You're not great. You're not godly because you're great. You're great because you're godly. Godliness, that's where greatness is found.
is when you're walking in lockstep with the Creator. of this universe. And he says, this is what I want them to know. I want them to know how powerful you are. I want you to know how present you are.
I want them to know what a priority you ought to be. I want you, and I want that king, and I want that queen to know there's only one God that can answer.
So, notice the climax of the story. Then the fire of the Lord fell and burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil. Licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, The Lord is God, the Lord is God. Then Elijah commanded them, seize the prophets of Baal, don't let anyone get away.
They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered. There. When these people, for the first time in 300 years, they had seen a true prophet. They had heard a true prayer. They fell down and worshiped the only God worth worshiping.
And it was all because of one solitary person, just one, who looked at the whole world and said, I don't care if you are against me, I'm for him. I don't care if you stand there, I'm going to stand here. And I don't care what it costs me, I will not move. And I'm telling you, this message is so for us today. One of the reasons why the church is facing the hostile culture we're facing today.
And why God is testing the heart of the church today, He's testing every one of us. I'll tell you what, I look at, I don't see it negatively, I see it positively. There's more hostility in this country to the church and to Christianity than at any time in my lifetime, and we got it great. And I don't mean to sound ugly, and I don't like it anymore than you do on the other hand. I'll tell you one thing I hope I'm always saying: bring it on.
I'm not moving. I'm not compromising. I'm going to keep preaching that book right there. I'm going to keep saying what God tells me to say. And that's not to brag on me, that's to brag on him, but I'm going to wrap this up.
Here's the question I want to ask all of you. I'm going to put up on the screen. Here's the question. If you were in this story, Would you be that one solitary human being that stood for God? Or would you bet that person?
Who hid in the crowd? The reason why Elijah stood for God and stood with God. And the reason why Elijah is Elijah today, and the reason I'm talking about this guy, and the guy's been dead for 4,000 years, he had a heart for God. He was a man of God. He was a man with God.
He was a man for God. For God. And we're in a situation, we're in a world today where never before in the history of this nation do we need more men of God being men of God and more women of God being women of God. It is a test.
So I'll close with this story. There's a a story from India. It's about a mouse. Just terrified of cats. And a magician saw him, and he saw how afraid he was of cats, and so he transformed him into a...
Cat.
Well He was no longer afraid of cats. Until he met a dog. And the musician saw it. He's okay. He turned him into a dog.
And he's no longer afraid of a dog. Until he met a tiger. He's afraid of the tiger.
So he transformed him. into a tiger. One day the tiger came complaining to the musician. The musician, he said, What else was wrong? He said, I met a hunter.
He's got a gun. And he looked at him and he said, okay, I know what I need to do. And he turned it back into a mouse. And he said, why did you turn me back into a mouse? He said, I've had to turn you back into a mouse.
Because even though you have the body, even of a tiger. You still had the heart. of a mouse. Simple question. We all walk around with the same look on our face.
We sang the same songs. We bought the same Bible. We've listened to the same sermon. We use the same cliches. I just want to ask you a question I have to ask myself, and you've got to answer for yourself.
But if we could do an EKA, SKG, a spiritual KG. What kind of heart? Do you have? Maybe you claim outwardly that you have the fear of God, but inwardly you have the fear of the world. Maybe.
Here's the question. James said Elijah was a man just like us. You know what that tells me? That means that we can be a man just like him. One of my heroes was Jonathan Edwards.
One of the greatest preachers and theologians who ever lived. He lived by two resolutions. He said these the day he died, and I'll put them up on screen. We'll say amen. He said, I will live for God.
But then he said this. If no one else does. I still will. I'm 72 years old. I don't know how much further I got.
I'll be a pastor this year. It'll be my 50th year as a pastor. I have one goal left. I have one goal left. I've told you, I have one goal left.
Jonathan, I want to finish well. I want to hit the tape with my chest out. When my head hurt. I just want to hear One thing.
Well done. Good and faithful. Servant. And we can all hear that. Listen.
We can all hear that. If we'll stand on the side of the one. who praise God stood with us and for us on a cross.
so that we might have Eternal life. Let's pray together. With heads bowed with eyes closed. My biggest concern when I go anywhere is one question. Always.
You die right now in this service. You die right now watching this service on TV or live stream or at another campus wherever you are. You die right now. Do you know for sure you'd go to heaven? That's the heartbeat of the great pastor of this church and his son and his staff.
That's my heartbeat.
So, you're here today in this building, or you're at the other campus, or you're watching online right now. Just being honest enough, you'd say, Boy, James, I can't say, I know for sure that if I were to die, I'd go to, I can't say that.
Well you can. If you would simply not say a prayer, but if you would pray a prayer and mean it. God gives His word He'll save you. If you'll just pray this prayer, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I'm lost and I need to be saved.
I can't save myself. But I believe by faith you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you came back from that grave.
So today, I repent of my sins. I ask you to forgive me. I ask you to save me. I believe in my heart. God raised you from the dead.
And I give all that I am to all that you are. If you prayed that prayer and you meant it, God saved you.
Now, here's the first way you'll know God saves you. When you get saved, you want to tell somebody about it. You want to hide it. You want to sell somebody. We want to know about it.
So, when our service is over, our campus pastor is coming in a moment. When our services are over, we're going to tell you exactly where you need to go, what you need to do. We've got pastors who would love to talk to you. We would love to talk to you about your new faith and help you get started in your walk with the Lord. We'd like to help you know how you can be filled with the Spirit of God and stand for the God you say that you love.
Some of you need to be biblically baptized. You've never done that, but you need to be biblically baptized. This church baptizes thousands of people a year. You would want to do that. You could come about that.
Whatever decision you've got to make, you let them know. And Lord, my prayer is this. Don't let your word return void. Let it accomplish what you please. Let it prosper the thing for which you sent it.
Heal Pastor Gregg quickly and bring us back to this wonderful church. Thank you for the privilege and honor I've had of being here, and I give you all the glory for it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast.
To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Yeah.
