Elijah Calls Down Fire [Part 1]

Alan Wright, pastor, Bible teacher, and author of his latest book, The Power to Bless. I think God gave us this story to prefigure Jesus. This is the way they treated Jesus, right? Who was the man of God. Look, he saved others.

He can't save himself. You remember the very first temptation Jesus experienced when the devil himself came to him? One of the temptations was, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this high place and find out whether Psalm 91 will apply to you and his angels will guard and protect you and pick you up. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Miracle Man as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'd like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here's Alan Wright.

Are you ready for some good news? If ever you go through a time in your life in which you feel aimless or confused, God wants to speak to you. And not just in the big and grand ways that make you admit that God is real, but I'm talking about in the language of a whisper. The language of intimacy where God comes near and He's close to you.

And He speaks not just direction, but the affirmation of His love for you. And we come to such a story today in the life of Elijah as we're studying the life of this miracle man whose life points us to the true miracle man Jesus. And today I turn you again to 1 Kings chapter 19 where we come upon a scene where Elijah having in chapter 18 won this huge victory at Mount Carmel where God's glory has come down in fire upon the wet altar and proven Himself to be God. And in the next scene we are surprised to see that Elijah was running for his life afraid because one woman, Jezebel, had threatened him. And how even this great man of God becomes so discouraged. And God came via an angel and fed him.

And he came out of that suicidal depression and he went to Mount Horeb and this is the story. I want to just read a couple verses and then we're going to, as the message goes along, go through each line of this text or this story. At 1 Kings 19, I pick up reading at verse 8. 1 Kings 19 at verse 8. And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

There he came to a cave and lodged in it and behold the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, What are you doing here Elijah? I must break the silence. I know I'm a coward to do so but I am being blackmailed and today I answer the blackmailers.

I would not normally give in to such pressure but I simply must, I'm sorry, forgive me for caving in to such demands. You see, what happened was in January on a frozen Friday night, one of those very cold nights, my wife and daughter and I were finishing up watching some show on the television. It was about 11.30 PM and we heard a thud on the back deck and all of a sudden my daughter Abigail cried out, We're being rolled! And I jumped up and I cut on the backyard lights to see the trees everywhere, fences, yard, just completely littered with toilet paper everywhere. And as the lights came on, Abby had jumped out on the deck, she saw somebody scurrying like a cockroach into the shadows.

We went in the front and the back trying to find the perpetrators and we could not find them. The next day I went out and cleaned up hours of clean up. I found the packaging, these toilet paper rolls according to the package were super sized, twice as big as a normal roll and I found evidence for at least 48 of them in my backyard. And then sometime afterward, a week or few weeks later, my wife called me, she said, You have received a strange envelope in the mail, primitive handwriting on the front, she said, Shall I open it? I said, Yes, open it up and inside was the blackmail letter. It is one of those where every letter has been cut out from a magazine to spell the words, you know, like a serial blackmailer would do. And it read, Pastor Alan, we are the people who rolled your yard, please put us in your sermon and we won't do it again.

And then it says, Make it good, thanks. I've cut out four miscellaneous pictures of men in there and so here it is in the sermon and it's good, right? Some people think that God's voice is sort of like that. That if you were to really hear from God, that it would be something like, you know, Have you cleaned up the mess and will you do these things and if so, I won't bring that kind of mess in your life again.

And I'm here to tell you that's not the way of God. I get a little bit of understanding of how God might feel because as pastor, I've come to realize over the years that often times if I call somebody that I don't regularly talk to all the time, the pastor, the senior pastor calls, they think something must be wrong. This past week it happened to me twice. One, at first I was just at the Wake Forest basketball game.

It was on Valentine's night actually. It was a late game and I looked down the road from me and I saw a friend, a parishioner, and his wife sitting down the road. I tried to get their attention. I couldn't get the attention and I looked over and this parishioner, and I caught him in the middle of the basketball game. I caught him in a big yawn and so I tried to get his attention again to make fun of him. So I called and he didn't answer and then a little bit later in the game I called again.

He didn't answer. The game got over and it was 11.15 and riding home and my phone rings and he said, I see that you called and he said, I know it's so late I need to call you back, but my wife, she saw you called twice. She said, it must be an emergency. Call him. And I said, it is an emergency.

I saw you yawn at the Wake Forest basketball game. It's an emergency. And then another time this week and a dear precious lady in the church and she called and she said, I see that you called and I said, I don't believe I called you and it must have been one of those accidental dials of the phone. And she said, well good. She said, I thought maybe somebody died, you know. So let me just say, you know, if I call you, it might be good actually. I don't, maybe nobody's died.

Maybe there's no emergency. I know a little bit how God must feel about this. If God comes and shows up, people are like, oh no, it's God.

He's got something to say to me. And today's story, we see just the opposite, don't we? This discouraged and depressed prophet who had really run from the Lord and become so depressed that he didn't even want to live anymore and God came and fed him. And what we're going to see today is that having been encouraged and strengthened by the Lord, he's still aimless and confused. And God comes and speaks to him in a wonderful way. Just look at the story.

It's a well-known and beautiful story where we learn about God's still small voice. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever feel like something's holding you back, as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them, but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive, faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now, the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales, but this month, Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month, you'll not only receive the bestselling book, but you'll also receive a free five-session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.

We are in our final days of offering this special product. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. What happens at verse 9 is that he came to a cave and lodged in it and behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? You know, you need to always pay attention when an omniscient being asks you a question. God knows everything, so if he asks Elijah a question, it's not because God needs information, it's because Elijah needs transformation. It's interesting within the Jewish culture, especially amongst the rabbis, there's a common practice to answer a question with a question. Once a student came to his rabbi and said, Rabbi, why is it that whenever I ask you a question, you just answer it with a question? And the rabbi said, ah, so what's so wrong with a question? You know, Jesus did this. He often did this. He told me to say something like, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And instead of immediately answering, Jesus said, why do you call me good? Because usually you get asked a question and it makes you think, which enables you to grow. Sometimes our children, you know, they come and they might have an assignment to write an essay or something and since I'm sort of the writer in the family, they might come to me and say, I can't think of anything to write this essay on and what should I do it on?

Well, you know, I could think of five good ideas right then, but instead of just saying, here's what you should write it on and here let me give you an outline, that doesn't help the child, does it? You say, well, what are you interested in regarding this era of history? What makes you curious? What causes you to pause? What disturbs you about this subject? What are the things that surprises you?

This is how you're going to discover what you should write about. In other words, you want to ask a question because you want them to be able to grow, right? So part of this is that God wants him to grow and I think the second part of it is he asks a question because God cares. You know, sometimes if you take time to listen and you just ask somebody a question and just listen, you might give them the most precious gift that they have ever had, just a caring friend, somebody that says, God becomes Elijah's therapist, at least for a few moments. Elijah, what are you doing here?

Tell me what's going on with you. Elijah, I'm listening. And even though Elijah's words are not accurate and his feelings are not really grounded in truth, they're still feelings and something we try to remind ourselves in our home is that feelings are feelings and therefore they're valid.

If you want to tell somebody how you're feeling, we're not going to immediately seek to disqualify that, but sometimes what we need to do is just listen and if you could listen before you tried to fix somebody, it might really help them and you know, God does that with this and asks a question. But I think thirdly, it's a question that is designed to help Elijah admit his aimlessness at this point in his life because the question what are you doing here is in the first place to say, Elijah, what are you doing? What are you doing? Well, I'm just here in this cave talking to you, God. I mean, what are you doing? Well, I won this great battle at Mount Carmel. It was amazing how you showed up there, God.

That was awesome and then, you know, I did get discouraged, but now I've come a long journey, 40 days journey and I've come here to Mount... I know all that, Elijah, but what are you doing in this season of your life? Maybe eventually you had to kind of admit to yourself, well, I'm not really doing anything right now.

I don't know what to do. Getting in touch with his aimlessness. And he's not just saying, what are you doing?

He's saying, what are you doing here? You know, I always assumed that Elijah went to Mount Horeb, which is probably the same place as Mount Sinai where Moses got the Ten Commandments. And I always assumed that Elijah went there because God had told him to.

But the more I studied this text, the more I realized that that's not really the case. Elijah, when God says, what are you doing here? Elijah doesn't say, well, you told me to come here. And furthermore, as I began to study it, it says he traveled 40 days and 40 nights, which could be a figure of speech, just meaning a really long time, or it could be literal. But in either event, it was more time than what was needed for him to be able to travel there.

What are you doing here, he says. And what's interesting, if you think about this, if you could see this on a map, you would realize that what he did was he started at Mount Carmel with this huge victory. And then he runs 17 miles to Jezreel nearby where Ahab had a summer home. And then he gets discouraged. He goes 100 miles south to Beersheba into the wilderness.

And God comes and feeds him with supernatural food. And with the strength of that food, the text says he traveled 40 days to Mount Horeb, which Sinai is at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, 200 miles to the south. So he's now 300 miles south of Mount Carmel. But if you look at the text, where does God tell him his real ministry is going to be next? He says, you're going back to Damascus.

You're going to anoint a king there. He is over 300 miles away from anywhere that God had a plan for him. And what's interesting is that this whole journey down through the Sinai Peninsula that it says was 40 days, this is the same wilderness that the people of God wandered in for 40 years after they refused to take the Promised Land. So what has happened here is that in a journey that even if he were to go the 200 miles from Beersheba down to Mount Horeb, we know that it was expected in that time, according to an unusual text in Deuteronomy 1, verse 2, that says that from an area near Beersheba down to Mount Sinai that it is about an 11 days journey. At most it's taken him 10 or 11 days to journey down there, but he spent 40 days.

What has he been doing? He's wandering until he finds himself at a cave on Mount Horeb. Maybe he's just said to himself, well this is where Moses came, this is a holy mountain, he's just going aimlessly, that's what this is a picture of, is the aimlessness of the mighty prophet and how God comes to speak to him. Now we come to verse 10. Elijah said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel, forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with a sword, and even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away.

There's a whole lot of I and me and my languages in this, isn't there? I've been very jealous for the other people who haven't been, but I have been, and even I, I only am left, and they can try to take my life away, and it's an odd thing that we could become self-absorbed and aimless at the same time, but actually they go hand in hand, don't they? Because when you really know where you're going on a mission from God, you're not thinking about yourself so much, but when you're aimless, you wake up every day going, what am I supposed to be doing? What's my role? What am I supposed to be doing? Why am I here?

What am I doing? And so God comes to him mercifully in the middle of this man's life that's without direction, verse 11. And he said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. It sounds to me like a tornado, like a tornado that would have just swept him away if he hadn't been in a cave. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, the ground shook, could have been a huge rock slide.

Everything's like it's falling apart. The Lord wasn't in that. And then after that, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

There's a tornado, an earthquake, tectonic plates are shifting, and a fire that is not a little campfire to warm himself by, but a brush fire that is unbridled and consuming everything in its path. The forces of nature demonstrating the glory and the power of God. And yet God manifest all of these grand things and then reveal himself in the midst of it. This mountain where Moses had met with God and the people weren't even allowed to touch the mountain because it was too holy and Moses was meeting with God.

This mountain where God put Moses in the cleft of a rock and all the greatness of God seen. But that's not what Elijah needed at the moment. Elijah already believed in the greatness of God. He had seen God do great things.

What he needed was something altogether different. It is possible to have seen the greatness of God and even be used by God for great things and feel distant from him. Elijah you've experienced some very dramatic things, that's wonderful. But a walk with me the Lord is saying isn't about you having a Mount Carmel every day. It's about you being close to my heart and me speaking to you. Knowing that God is powerful and awesome is important, but that doesn't heal your heart.

Something more intimate is needed. Today's teaching, Elijah calls down fire. It's from the series Miracle Man and we've got more to come in our next edition. But Alan is also here in the studio. We've got more from Alan in a moment. Stick with us for today's final word. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them, but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales, but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month, you'll not only receive the bestselling book, but you'll also receive a free five-session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. We are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, today's teaching is Elijah Calls Down Fire. And you've said it so often, I'm glad you're saying it so often, is that these guys, these gals from the Bible that we call heroes of our faith, no different than you and me. And, you know, I think that this is one of those in the series. I remember Daniel thinking, oh, I think I'll skip that story. You know, it just is not the kind of story that syncs up very well with a picture of a loving God, you know, calling down fires of judgment. Well, we're going to see some wonderful good news in this, though, that this really points us, Daniel, to how gracious God is that He sent Jesus to take the fire of His wrath for us. And, well, when we dive into this, we're diving deep into pictures of the Gospel. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.