Which Side Are You On? | Waiting on God

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Pastor Greg Laurie says, let it refresh you. None of us likes to wait, like when we're on hold, hearing that annoying music repeat over and over again, or when we're in line at the grocery store or the airport, or in the waiting room at the doctor's office, and our name is finally called and we go to the exam room to wait some more. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out when we wait on God, it can renew us. We'll see some great miracles took place through the prophet Elijah after a time of waiting on the Lord. This is the day, the day when life begins. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 18. That's right after 1 Kings 17 if you don't know where to turn. The title of my message is Which Side Are You On? We're talking of course about Elijah the prophet.

We're looking at how one man's life made a difference. Israel had gone off the rails spiritually and morally. Whenever you go off the rails spiritually, you'll go off the rails morally too. That's exactly what they had done. Instead of worshiping the true and living God who had been so good to them, they turned to false gods. They turned to idols, and specifically in their case, they turned to Baal and Ashtoreth. In fact, it was Jezebel the queen who brought the worship of Baal into Israel.

Ahab was a spineless man who was really manipulated by effectively the wicked witch of the west, Jezebel. They're in charge and everything is going the wrong direction. Enter Elijah who enters the picture with boldness and courage and throws down the gauntlet. I wonder if some of you feel like you're the only one around who speaks up for your faith. Maybe it's in your family.

Maybe it's in your workplace or your campus or your neighborhood or wherever. You feel all alone. That's probably how Elijah felt.

He actually wasn't the only one, but he felt like it at times. We're going to read now one of the most well-known stories in all of the Bible. This is where they're up in Mount Carmel. This is bigger than the Thrilla in Manila. This is bigger than the Rumble in the jungle. Not jumble.

There's no jumble. These are fights from Days Gone By if you don't know what I'm talking about. This is the shootout at the Carmel Corral. This is where Elijah stands up on Mount Carmel and throws down a challenge and says, let's ask the real God to answer us by fire. An appropriate challenge considering the fact that Baal, in theory, was the God of the elements, the God of the sun, the God of the rain, the God of everything. Let's go ahead and just let God answer us himself. Fire from heaven.

Can you imagine if you had the power to call fire down from heaven? Elijah did. He used it on two occasions.

One is on Mount Carmel. The other is when a king sent a captain of 50 soldiers to arrest Elijah who was up on a hill. The captain said, Elijah, man of God, the king says, come down from that hill right now. Elijah says, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 soldiers. Well, he was a man of God. And fire came down.

Now another poor guy is tasked with doing the same thing. He comes up to Elijah up in that hill. He says, oh, man of God, the king says, come down from there. Elijah says, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 soldiers. He was still a man of God.

They got torched too. The third guy is like, hi, sir, Mr. Elijah. Look, I'm just on my job here.

I already heard what happened to the other guys. Would you pretty please come down? Here's pictures of my family. Look. Elijah says, okay, because the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, go with you.

So he had this ability. Man, if I had the ability to call fire down from heaven, there would be some torched people on the freeway. Right? The crazy things people do coming over eight lanes, right? Or tailgating you the whole time or the things that people do. And there would be some torched people using cell phones too.

And especially people using cell phones on the freeway, which is the reason they do a lot of the crazy things that they do. In fact, an interesting story in the New Testament. James and John, aptly described as the sons of thunder, were upset because a certain city in Samaria was not hospitable to Jesus and the disciples. And they said, Lord, shall we call fire down from heaven on them as Elijah did? Jesus is like, oy vey, guys, come on. I didn't come to torch people.

I came to save people. And then he said, you don't even know what kind of spirit you're of to make a statement like this. But Elijah never used this ability for a personal purpose or to vent his anger. He did it when the Lord called him to do. Where did Elijah get this courage that he had? Reviewing back in something I gave in the first message, if you're taking notes, number one, Elijah stood continually in the presence of God. He said to King Ahab, as the Lord God lives, 1 Kings 17, 1, as the Lord God lives, before whom I stand, there will not be rain, but according to my word. He served a living God. And he was aware of the fact that he constantly was in the presence of God. And when you stand in the presence of God, you will not bow before any other person.

Proverbs 28 one says, the righteous are as bold as a lion. Secondly, Elijah was a man of prayer. James 5 17 says, Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain in the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crop. It was Elijah's prayer in private that was a source of his power in public.

Let me say that again. It was Elijah's prayer in private that was a source of his power in public. That's where he got his courage. Thirdly, Elijah knew scripture and acted on it. There's a statement given to us in Deuteronomy 11, where God warned if Israel turned to idols, he would send a draught to their land. And so he knew what the word of God said.

So what he did was based on scripture. Fourthly, Elijah faithfully delivered the message. This is not an easy message to deliver.

Hey everybody, you're going to experience a great draught, and many of you are going to die. You've been a great audience. Good night. God bless. Mic drop.

Right now. Who wants to give a message like that? And in the same way, it's hard for us sometimes to tell people what the Bible says about final judgment and how Christ is the only way to the Father.

And maybe we have a discomfort with certain areas of scripture, but if we want to serve the Lord and represent Him, we need to give His truth and not edit it or varnish it or whitewash it or anything else. And also, number five, Elijah was a man of faith and obedience. So after he throws down the gauntlet in the court of Ahab and Jezebel, the Lord says, Okay, let's go. You're leaving. And he sends him to a little brook called Cherith. He has to go off the grid.

Action man has to be quiet. Because this is an outdoorsy kind of rough and tumble kind of guy, and now he has to go and basically be silent and wait on the Lord. He could have complained.

He could have said no, but he did exactly what God called him to do. You know, we live in an instant gratification culture today, don't we? You download everything. You want to read a book? Just download it. Have it in a few seconds. You can get your news real time on the feed, on your phone.

You can send a text and food is on the way. You want to watch a movie? Remember the days Blockbuster? We'd go on Blockbuster and rent these things called video tapes. Remember the statement, be kind, rewind? Remember that?

It's like ancient history. Then there were DVDs. Oh, DVDs. And so you could get an account with Netflix and they would send you a DVD and then you would watch it and you would return the DVD and so forth. And then it became downloadable and now everything's downloadable.

Who even looks at DVDs anymore? So we're used to getting things quickly, immediately. Amazon, same day delivery. Whatever you need, you can have it now. So it's hard. Well, God says to us, slow down. But God has this timing. You know, when you see a work of God that is working, it's always the right person in the right place at the right time.

And just as important as the will of God is, is the timing of God. We read over in Isaiah 40-31, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint. Notice that God energizes us as we wait upon Him. Maybe the reason you're so tired and worn out and depleted is because you haven't taken time to just wait on the Lord. To just sit before the Lord.

You're always on the go, always moving, always active. And sometimes it's good to just sit. And that's what Elijah did for a prolonged period of time. Then the Lord said, now I want you to go over to some widow's house and ask her for free food and live there for a while.

And he did it and he obeyed the Lord and God was getting him ready. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives. Hi Pastor Greg. My wife and I listen to you on the radio daily and love your teaching. We also watch most of the movies you've produced, including Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. We grew up with Johnny Cash and this movie made us cry.

We also love the movies A Rush of Hope and Jesus Revolution. As we share this message with you, we're still grieving the loss of our grandson who was killed in a hit and run accident. Please keep up the great teaching as we are so thankful for everything you do. We appreciate hearing how these daily studies are impacting lives, even through painful situations.

Would you consider sharing your story? If so, call us and let us know. Call 1-866-871-1144. That's a special number, 866-871-1144. And now Pastor Greg continues his look at this fascinating section of scripture in his message called, Which Side Are You On?

It's one of the most requested studies of the year. So now we come to 1 Kings 18, verse 2, and we're introduced to a man named Obadiah. Meanwhile, the family had become very severe in Samaria. So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace.

And then we have this very important statement. Obadiah was the devoted follower of the Lord. That was when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord's prophets, Obadiah hit a hundred of them in two caves. So Elijah's making his way to the palace and here comes Obadiah, who's in charge of the palace of the king. But then this detail is added because we could quickly say, oh, in charge of the palace of the king, that's a wicked king.

This is a corrupt man. Oh no, it says he's a devoted follower of the Lord. God often places his people in positions of significance. Think of Joseph, there in the court of the Pharaoh, giving him advice. Daniel, before two kings, advising them as well. Nehemiah, the cup bearer of the king, who had the king's trust, who was able to take that position he had and use it for God's glory and help to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And the king even funded it.

It was amazing. And so God will often place his people in these important positions. I think sometimes we think, you know, when you become a Christian, now you need to serve the Lord and you probably should be a pastor or a preacher or maybe working at church staff or at least just go hang around at the church all day and criticize other people, right?

No, no. God has a calling for many people. God has not called us to isolate but to infiltrate. Listen, we need Christian teachers in our schools today, right? We need Christian doctors. We need Christian businessmen. We need Christian lawyers, especially Christian lawyers.

We need Christian mayors and congressmen and senators and Christians in politics. God puts people in amazing places. How about Alice Cooper, right? She said in a book, you know, Lennon, Dylan, Alice and Jesus. Is it possible that God could place his man in the middle of rock music to be an influence on other people?

The answer is yes, by the way. And Alice told me that he shared the gospel with Johnny Depp. He told me that he gave a Bible to Marilyn Manson. I said, did he burn it or anything?

He said, oh no, he was thankful to get it, you know. So not everyone's called to be an Elijah. Some are called to be an Obadiah. We might say, well, they're compromisers.

Why do you say that? God put him there. And the Bible says he was a deeply committed man to the Lord. Think of Queen Esther. You know, you can say she was a compromiser. She was in a beauty contest. That's sinful.

Really? Well, looks like the Lord had his hand on all those events. And she ultimately became the queen.

And it's an interesting thing. She didn't walk in and say, hey everybody, I'm Jewish, just in case you didn't know. She kept it to herself. Until she needed to use her influence for good and ended up saving the Jewish people because God had put her there for such a time as this. Some of us are called to be Elijah's. Some of us are called to be Obadiah's.

But every one of us is called to use our influence for God's glory wherever we are. You know, it's an interesting story when Jesus was talking about how John would live on longer and how Peter would die. Peter didn't like what he was hearing. And he said about John, well, what about him? And Jesus said, what is that to you? Follow me. And sometimes we're like, hey, what about him?

Well, I don't agree with that. Hey, the Lord says, what's that to you? You follow me. Don't worry about how well someone is doing it somewhere else or if they're not meeting your expectations and just make sure you're using your life to bring glory to God where the Lord has placed you.

Stay in your lane and focus. All right, so Obadiah goes back and says they have, guess who's back? Elijah the prophet. He's kind of hard to miss.

He's that hairy dude with the crazy clothes and the wild look, yes. He wants to talk to you. So Ahab can't wait to confront Elijah. 1 Kings 18, verse 16. So Obadiah went to Ahab that Elijah had come and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. And when Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, so is that really you, troublemaker of Israel? Elijah replied, I didn't make any trouble for Israel. You and your family are the troublemakers for you've refused to obey the commands of the Lord and you've worshiped the images of Baal instead. We'll stop there.

Interesting statement. Ahab calls Elijah the troublemaker of Israel. It's for troublemakers from a root word that means one who wreaks havoc or brings a pestilence or is a plague. The Hebrew word is snake. Ah, snake in the grass, Elijah.

The one that's caused all the chaos. You're like a walking plague, man. And why are you even here? Elijah says, I'm not the walking plague, you are. You're the one that brought this upon yourself.

And I just think about the differences life made. We need more troublemakers like this today, right? Because the church is the only hope for America. The church, you say, why do you say that? Because the church, established by Christ himself, is the restrained force in the world today. You know, I mentioned earlier that we're called to be salt and light in the world. And salt in the first century was used as a preservative.

It was used to stop the rotting of the meat. And in many ways, the church stands and we speak out against what is wrong. We speak up for what is true. And the anti-Christ can't even be revealed until the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Because we're told in Thessalonians, he who now restrains will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way and then that wicked one will be revealed whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming.

It's speaking of the work of the Holy Spirit through the church. We're the restraining force. Imagine if we were suddenly taken from this earth overnight, how easily evil could spread rapidly, quickly, with no one speaking up, no one saying a thing.

And so you can see how our influence is so needed in our culture. So Elijah says, okay Ahab, here's the deal. 1 Kings 18, 19, summon all of Israel to join me on Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth who are supported by Jezebel. Elijah likes these odds.

850 to one. Bring out all your false prophets. Let's get up there on Mount Carmel.

Tell Israel to show up. You know, bring their popcorn and milk duds and let's do this thing. Let's have it out. Let's have this battle right now. It was the battle of the gods.

Here's what amazes me. Is Ahab agrees to this. Now why would he think he had any advantage over Elijah? Baal, his god of the elements of the weather, was kind of a dud, right?

He had not brought the rain when Elijah said it would not rain. Why did he think that Baal would be able to send fire from heaven? Why would he agree to this thing and put all Israel up there to watch it? Simple answer, I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Sin makes you stupid. This is the biggest mistake of Ahab's life. To agree with this idea. 1 Kings 18, 20. So Ahab summoned all of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions if the Lord is God, follow him.

If Baal is God, then follow him. But look at this, but the people were completely silent. Their silence was deafening, why?

Because they worshiped many gods and they did not want to stop. So hey, let's go, let's see who has the real God. Well the best part of the story is yet to come. Pastor Greg Laurie will have more from this encounter between God's prophet Elijah and the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah. Be sure to keep listening to A New Beginning.

But you know, that tug of war is just as real today. We can follow God Almighty or we can be lured away listening to other voices. Maybe the Lord's been speaking to you about making a change in who you've been listening to.

Pastor Greg, if they want to make a change right now, what would you say to them? What I would say is, he's only a prayer way. Which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, he will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me.

Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you. From this moment forward as my savior and Lord, as my God and my friend, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Greg and meant those words sincerely, we want to welcome you into God's family and we want to help you get started in your new faith. Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believers Bible free of charge along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. You know, Pastor Greg, we all have people waiting for us in heaven and we may think about that fact when we hear that you have a new book on heaven. I think about your grandmother, Mama Stella, and she was such a big part of your childhood. And that's going to be a sweet reunion for you someday.

It really is. You know, Mama Stella, and that's the southern way of addressing your grandparent, you know, you call your grandmother Mama or your grandfather Daddy. So it was Mama Stella and Daddy Charles.

And I lived with her and my grandfather for a number of years because my mom was living her wild, tumultuous life. And Mama Stella and Daddy Charles were Christians. They had a portrait of Jesus hanging on the wall and we went to church on Sunday.

Well, my mother didn't have a portrait of Jesus hanging on her wall and there was no church. And that is when I first heard about Jesus. And I remember as a little boy, I would stare at that portrait and there was something about Jesus that intrigued me. Like, who is he?

You know, can I know him? I remember as a little boy sitting in my bed at night after they'd gone to sleep and I would put a blanket over my head and I would talk to an imaginary character that I called Mr. Nobody. And I think in my little boy way, I was reaching out to God. You know, the Bible says God has placed eternity in our hearts. That's unique to people. You don't have that in the animal kingdom. I don't think a dog sits around and thinks about the meaning of his life.

I know a cat would for sure. But you know, I did think about those things and then I thought even more deeply about it as it got a little bit older and then I went on my own search. And so when I did hear the gospel and I did accept Christ, I called Mama Stella. And it's funny because she also played a role in my first answered prayer because after I became a Christian, I had this kind of funky Bible somebody gave me and I wanted a proper Bible, you know, with a leather cover, gold pages. I'd seen one down at a Christian bookstore and I prayed, God, would you get me a Bible? I had no money and I wasn't gonna ask my mother to buy me a Bible. And so I prayed, Lord, would you help me get one of these Bibles? And my grandmother talks to me on the phone and I told her I accepted Christ and she said, Greg, I wanna buy you a brand new Bible.

Go pick out a real nice one and I'll pay for it. Boom, first answered prayer. Came through Mama Stella, not to forget also the fact that she was the most amazing cook of all time because it was southern food, you know, deep fried chicken, okra, collard greens, black eyed peas, mashed potatoes, and the best biscuits, this side of heaven. So when I get to heaven, I'm kind of hoping that Mama Stella will fire me up a batch of hot biscuits so I can melt butter on them and then put some honey or some jam.

She also made jam, of course. And to me, that would be better maybe even than manna. So speaking of heaven, I have written a book called As It Is in Heaven.

You've heard that phrase before. It's in the Lord's Prayer where Jesus teaches us this prayer, he says, after this manna, therefore you should pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What is heaven like? What will we do in heaven? Will we be reunited with loved ones who have preceded us when we get there?

Well, the answer to that is yes. So I deal with all of those things and a whole lot more because, you know, heaven is sort of this mystical place to a lot of people, and the Bible actually gives us some very important details about heaven. I can tell you this, it's gonna be amazing.

It's gonna surpass your wildest dreams, and it will be better than anything you've ever experienced on earth. And that's why I wanna send you a copy of this book As It Is in Heaven so you can learn more about your future heavenly home. And I'll send this book to you for your gift of any size. Dave, you can tell them a little bit more about that.

Yeah, it's an encouraging resource full of insights and answers to your questions. And we're sending it to say thank you to those who partner with us here in 2024. We have such compelling ministry plans, and with your investment, many more hearts can be touched, and many more will hear about heaven. So if you'll contact us today with your investment, we'll be glad to send you As It Is in Heaven. Just call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, I wanna encourage you to check out the new Harvest Plus app. It's on Roku, Apple TV, and Google Play, among others. And you can stream incredible content on all major platforms for free. You're gonna find live events, our evangelistic films like A Rush of Hope, Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, and our newest film, Fame. Plus our TV programs, our podcast, Harvest at Home, and a lot more.

Stream it all on any device for free using the new Harvest Plus app. Well next time, we'll dig deeper into our study of the life of Elijah and his encounter with the prophets of Baal. More from this top 10 study of the year. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.