Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
so that all may know Christ. Join us now. For a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church. Located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Appreciate Brother Frank reading our passage again.
I literally got to point number one last week. And you're like, if that was point number one, I don't know if I want all the points, but God just led to stay there last week, and our time was a little bit gone. And so we want to jump into it more on this. Series we're doing, but specifically this first one on Elijah. And again, our title is this: that the odds were against me.
But God will was for me. We gave you all the historical context last week. About Elijah, he comes to King Ahab, but through the power of God and through a decree of God, he says it's not going to rain, and now we have a few years of absolute drought. And so Elijah's not seen again, then he shows back up. And here we go with King Ahab again, and he says, listen, it's time for the people to make a choice.
And he literally uses this famous verse we talked about last week. How long halt ye between two opinions? It's time to make a choice. Listen, if the gods of Balaam are God, then let them be God. If the God of Israel, the real God, if he's God, let him be God.
But you need to make a choice, and it's time for a confrontation. And so we talked first that as he came through this, that there was a confrontation with apathy. And Elijah just challenges them. How long halt ye between two opinions? We spent a whole lot of time on that last week, so we'll let that go.
And if you weren't here, I hope you can go back and listen to that. But I want you to notice number two today as we begin in verse 22, we see a contest. for fire.
So Elijah confronts the people with apathy. And notice, if you would, verse 22, then said Elijah unto the people, I even I only Remain a prophet. Of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let me just stop right there and say: there are gonna be times in your life.
when you feel like you are the minority. And you very well may be the minority at your job. In your family. Even sometimes even at church, you can be the minority. when it comes to doing right.
But remember that when God's on your side, You are the majority. Don't forget that. Look at verse 23. He says, Let them. Let them therefore give us two bullocks.
And let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under. In other words, don't light anything. You've got an altar, you've got an animal, you've got the wood, you've got everything there for fire, but don't light it. And you take one animal, I'm going to take another animal and I'm going to cut it up in pieces.
I'm going to put it on this altar and I'm going to put wood under it, and I'm not going to put fire under it.
Now, look at verse 24. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And notice this real closely. And the God that answereth by fire. Let him be.
Be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. The only time you'll ever hear Baptist say that in a church where they all say that. Look at verse 25. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves and dress it first, for ye are many, and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
Let me just stop right here and explain. We have a contest for fire, but if you're not careful, you're going to misunderstand this. The point here is not whether these prophets or even Elijah. Listen to me now, Kirwan Baptist Church. The point is not whether they could make fire.
They all had wood. They all had things to burn on these altars. They all could have lighted a fire through man's efforts. They all could have made a fire. through man's means.
The point was that Elijah challenged who can light the fire by prayer. Who can light the fire by calling down fire from heaven. In other words, Who has access to the real God. And this is what he says. The God that answereth by fire, let him be.
God. Let me explain something to you this morning, Kerwin. There is a totally different... kind of fire, and that's the fire that comes from God himself. That is a totally different kind of situation that produces totally different results from what man can create.
Can I have an amen right there, Kirwan Baptist Church? Let me just say, we have a little too much nowadays of man lighting fire by himself. We have religion that has the ability to light a fire. We have religion nowadays that has all kinds of means. We have religion and preaching and so-called worship that manipulates, that works things up, that appeals to the flesh, that lights a fire that people enjoy.
But it's not fire from heaven. Don't tell me how big of a fire you had. Did it come from God or not? Last time I checked, man can create a pretty big fire. Fire from heaven is a totally different kind from man's fire.
fire.
Now, I don't know about you today. I'm going to do everything I can do, and I'm going to work hard. We're going to do everything we can do at this church, and we have a lot. of things yet to do. I know Brother Frank announced today, listen, we We have some new things we're going to be introducing to the church in the next month or so.
We're trying to get through the summer when folks are gone on vacations and all that. And we have a new plan to try to get into this community better. But listen, in August, we're feeding all the teachers at Cache Elementary right here. We're going to bring them over here to our property. I think we have almost 80 or 90 of them.
They're going to come over here for a lunch. And we want to give them something, we want to pray for them. We want to thank them for their service. We want to thank them for investing in the children of our community. We want to feed them a good meal.
We need your help. We need some of you that say, listen, I want to help in this community too. Instead of sitting there and saying, hey, everything you don't think we do, jump in something that we are doing. Get involved in something that we are doing. And I don't know about you.
Listen, I want God. to change this community. But God's not going to change it through man's fire. It's going to have to be fire from heaven. Elijah, listen, they could have gotten two sticks and rubbed them together and maybe it made fire.
Listen, the prophets could have made fire. Elijah could have made fire. There's a lot of ways to do that. But what Elijah said is: here, we're going to find out who the real God is, is who can send down fire from heaven. And that's the kind of fire I want at Kerwin Baptist Church.
I gotta be honest with you. I'm kind of tired of man-made fire. I'm tired of man-made worship. I'm tired of worldly stuff and culture stuff and what's modern and what everybody likes right now. Listen, nobody said that everybody likes God's fire, but that's the kind of fire that I want at this church.
I want you to notice thirdly, not just a contest of fire, but notice thirdly, we see a conflict with false religion.
Now Put on your big boy breeches. Here we go. Look at verse twenty-six. And the prophets of Baal, by the way, there were over 800 prophets at this time. 450 prophets of Baal, but there were 400 other of prophets and so notice this and they took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it and called on the name of BAAAL from morning even until noon, saying, O BAAAL, hear us.
But there was no voice. Nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. Here's man's effort once again. Verse 27: It came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud.
For he is a God. Either he is talking. Or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. Can you tell Elijah's a little frustrated right now? You know, he's wanting to stick it to him.
And notice this: look at verse 28. And here they go, even more man's effort. They cried aloud, they got louder, cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out of them. And it came to pass when the midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering. Notice this, the time of the offering of evening sacrifice.
We're going to talk about that in a little bit. that there was neither voice nor any to answer. nor any that regarded. Here we have the showdown at Mount Carmel. 450 prophets of Baal.
Verses one man of God. We have false religion against true religion. By the way, in 2025, we still have the same thing. Nah, I'm not one of these guys. I don't name names and call names out and try to correct everybody.
I got more to do to serve God than I have time to do right now. But I'm going to tell you something: even in 2025, you be careful what you hear, you be careful what you listen to, you be careful what you read, you be careful what you watch on TV, be careful what everybody says on Facebook and how that just sounds real good to you. You better be careful about all that stuff because even in 2025, we have false religion versus true religion. And it's getting harder to decipher.
Now, listen to me. False religion is loud. False religion is dramatic. False religion makes a lot of noise, but it is ultimately powerless. These prophets called out, they leaped on the altar, they cried louder, they cut themselves, they talked a lot, they made a lot of noise, they tried to set the mood, they tried to manipulate, they cried all day, but there was no answer, there was no response, there was no power, and most importantly, there was no fire.
And may I say, it is easy for us to start developing an appetite for false religion. To like what you hear. For it to feel good, what you hear. For there to be so much going on that you barely miss the fact that God's not in this. Has a worldly sound, a worldly culture, worldly dress, worldly mood, worldly speech.
Oh, you feel things, but is it God? Oh, it produces things. But is God the one that produced it? We enjoy things, but is it something that God approves of? What we find is not much has changed from this till 2025.
People are still making a lot of noise, they're still doing a lot of manipulation, and boy, there's fire started up all over, but it's not necessarily fire from heaven. We have here something wrong with false religion. When it comes down to it, there is no power. power from God. Number four, we better get off that real fast.
I can tell this is going over very well. Verse number four, we see a change that was needed.
So we have a contest with fire and We have a conflict with false religion, and so now Elijah's getting somewhere.
Now that they see that everything that they had enjoyed, I mean, this whole kingdom had gone to worship in Baal. Oh, they loved the ceremonies. It was enjoyable. It was entertaining. I mean, everybody liked it.
And by the way, isn't that what we should do? What everybody likes? Isn't that what we should go to? What's popular for everybody? I mean, it's mainstream.
It's culture now. The entire kingdom had changed. And now there is only one man of God left. But we have here something, a change. That was needed.
Look at verse 30. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. Notice this. And he repaired the altar of the Lord.
That was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob. Unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be. Thy name And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar.
as great as would contain two measures Now listen to me this morning, Kirwan. This is an interesting story. This sounds like a story that is hard to believe. Man, you could just sit around a campfire and tell this story, and if people didn't know the Bible, You'd tell this story and they would be like, what in the world? Listen, I want you to get this.
Fire did not fall from heaven until the altar was prepared. And fire did not fall down from heaven until the altar was repaired. Notice, God wasn't broken down, the altar was broken down. God wasn't broke. The people were what was broke.
Israel had gone a dangerous direction, but that wasn't God's fault. That was the people's fault. And the change that was needed was that we need to get back. to the altar. We've got to get back and we've got to repair things and we've got to start doing things God's way.
Listen to me. God will not bless a broken-down relationship with Him. You see, that's why God says that He desires truth on the inward parts. Listen to me, Kerwin. You and I are the altar now.
We're the altar. That's just a place where we as the altar kneel. That is just a place where we, humbly in the sight of God and accountable to people, come to make decisions. The altars in our heart. This is where the true sacrifice is made.
And that's why God wants truth on the inward parts. That's why God said, I would rather have obedience than sacrifice. because obedience comes from the heart. Listen to me, Kerwin. We don't see the consuming fire of God sweep over us because our altars are broken and we're fleshly and we're selfish and we need repaired.
Listen, you can go a lot of places and you can see some fire this morning. But what I'm concerned about is why we don't see the fire of God here. Oh, I can create a fire. Hey, we could just change a whole lot of things here at this church, and before long we might have a couple thousand people. Because we got a lot of good things.
We could change some things. That are core values with us. And we could just become a lot more user-friendly and amen, just drop a few things in the Word of God. And we're just going to focus on some of this. We could create a fire, but let me tell you what I'm concerned about.
I want to see the fire of God fall here. And the fire of God is not going to fall until the altars are repaired. Amen. The altars are broken. Look at verse 33.
And he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and Laid him on the wood and said, Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.
Now, let me just stop you right there. Have you forgotten, and I don't want you to forget, that this is in a time of drought. They haven't had rain for a few years. Listen to me. And now he asked for four barrels of water.
to pour over this sacrifice. Water was precious.
Now, notice this. And he said, do it the second time. That's four more barrels. That they pour over this altar, and the water just begins to obviously fill up the trench that he had built around. And notice this, and they did it a second time, and he said, Do it the third time.
So now we have 12 barrels of water. That people gotta get real nervous about because this is drought season, and you're taking what little water left. to pour over this altar. Notice verse 35, and the water ran down about the altar and filled the trench. with water.
So we have a contest for fire. False religion goes first. And we find that there's a problem with false religion. They made a lot of noise, they did a lot of things, but. No fire from heaven.
And so Elijah steps in and he makes a change that is needed. He repairs the altar. He does it God's way. He follows God's word. And then I want you to notice number five: the bulk of what we want to talk about today.
We see a call to Jehovah. Look at verse thirty-six. And it came to pass at the time of offering of the evening sacrifice. That Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant. And that I have done all these things at thy word.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know. that thou art the Lord God. and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
Now You need to pay real close attention to verse 36 and verse 37. Because I want to teach it to you, okay? We find here How to call On God.
Now I want you to notice number one there is the precise timing It says that it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. that Elijah came to give sacrifice. Why is this important? Because Elijah acts at God's appointed time. During the evening sacrifice, you say, Preacher, why is this important?
What was. the evening sacrifice.
Well, let me be very clear. It's what it was because they had stopped doing it. You see, There was one sacrifice in the morning. in Israel about 9 a.m. And then there would be another one in the evening, which would be around 3 p.m.
These were called continual burnt offerings. Exodus 29, Numbers 28. And these sacrifices were made in the morning sacrifice and in the evening sacrifice. And why was it done this way? They did it this way to show that they were absolutely dependent upon God.
That they had needed God for their atonement. They needed God for their holiness. They needed God's presence. They needed God's faithfulness. And even though the northern kingdom, as we explained last week, where Elijah was, they had abandoned temple worship.
They had abandoned these sacrifices. They had abandoned all those. They had gotten away with all those.
Now they were worshiping Baal.
Now they were doing it their way. All the ways that God had given, it was gone. But Elijah here, by doing it at the time of evening sacrifice, decided, I'm going to do it how God laid it out. I'm going to bring back the old way. I'm going to bring back the biblical way.
I'm going to bring back. The right way. Why was evening sacrifice so significant? Because the timing was one of divine intervention. Elijah deliberately waited to the time of evening sacrifice and it said, God, what it was saying is, God, I'm here to do it your way, not my way.
I'm here to do it how you said, not how they said. Here's Elijah after he repaired the altar.
Now he's coming back to God's word. Not only that. This was a sign of God's covenant and continuity. the timing of the evening sacrifice. show that Elijah's actions were a sign of True worship.
in the temple. Not how everybody had gone to in the kingdom now. But he was going back to true worship. It reminded the people when Elijah did this this day that God had not changed. They had.
Amen. The fire from heaven falling at this sacred time was God's way of saying. I accept this sacrifice. Earlier that day, the prophets of Baal spent all morning. and most of the afternoon.
crying, cutting, dancing, screaming. No response. But one simple prayer from Elijah at the time of evening sacrifice Fire fell from heaven.
Now can I go a little bit deeper than that? Here's something deeper. Do you know in Mark chapter 15, beginning in verse 34, we find that Jesus died on the cross? At the time of evening Sacrifice. Do you know that Jesus died around 3 p.m.?
In the afternoon. Listen to me, just as fire fell at Elijah's prayer during evening sacrifice, showing God's acceptance, so did Jesus' sacrifice at the same hour, showing God's provision for sin. Listen to me. Elijah's moment on Mount Caramel was a foreshadowing. of Jesus on the cross.
God answered here with fire. When Jesus died on the cross, God answered with forgiveness. Sacrifice. Rot. deliverance.
Can I tell you something, Kirwan Baptist Church? sacrifice in our life. is still what brings deliverance. It's repairing the altar. It's getting back to God's way.
Elijah here honors God's ordained worship. He makes clear the contrast between true religion and false religion. He positions himself under God's covenant. Notice number two, not just. The timing.
But notice number two, the prophet's boldness. In verse 36, it says that Elijah the prophet came near. It means Elijah steps forward with confidence. Representing God before the people, a model of bold, faithful leadership. And may I just say this, Caroline Baptist Church, in 2025, we still need people that are willing to step up.
And step out. Notice number three, I have more I would say about that, but for time, number three, I want you to see this prayerful petition. Notice what he said. Lord God of Abraham. Isaac and of Israel.
Why did Elijah say this? He's appealing to the covenant. Keeping God of the patriarchs. He grounds his prayer in God's faithfulness and his history. This is Jehovah and Elohim, Lord God of Abraham.
He is saying this: You're not just God of the people, you're God of the person. You're not just a God that makes a covenant, you're a God that keeps a covenant. You're not just a God that makes a promise, you're a God that keeps a promise. You're not just a God that makes a statement, you're a God that doesn't lie. He says, You're the God of Abraham.
You made a promise and you kept it. You're the God of Isaac. You're the God of Israel.
So you're not just the God of the individual, Abraham and Isaac, but you're the God of the people. And I'm here to tell you: listen, God loves all of us, and He loves you individually. Notice number four, we see the purposeful request. Why was he praying? Because he wanted to show off in front of them.
That he was stronger? No, no, no, no, no, no. Look at what he says. Let it be known this day. That thou art God.
God. In Israel. Did you hear that? Currently Baptist Church, look at me. We're almost done, but you've got to hear this.
The main request Was that God would reveal himself. as the one true God. Confronting the deception. false religion. Look at me.
The main request wasn't for God to send fire. The main request was for God to show himself. You know the problem with our praying? We pray for things that we want. Instead of just praying that God will show Himself.
Listen. I pray that God will fill this building. I pray that God will help us in wisdom as we're trying to figure out how to add more seats, whether to add a balcony, whether to add a stadium seating, whether to do whatever. We're considering a whole lot of things. Can I tell you something?
I've got to be careful that I don't ever pray and God give us more seats and God continue to grow this church. I've got to make sure that the whole route and the whole purpose isn't so that we can ones that, hey, look at this church that I pastor. Hey, look how many people are in this church that I pastor. Can I tell you something? The main purpose of getting people here is so that more people will get saved.
And the main purpose of more people getting here is that we can train and disciple more people so that they can go out and reach people and more people can get saved. The main purpose of this church is to be a place where God has freedom to show Himself. The purpose wasn't for everyone to see the fire. Listen to me, Kerwin. This is better than you realize right now.
The purpose wasn't for everyone to see the fire. The purpose was for everyone to see God. We have churches that want everybody to see the fire that they could create. But what I want is for people to see God. I don't want them to see facilities.
I don't want them to see programs. I don't want them to see all that we have to offer. I don't want them to see all our little gadgets and all our little things and all our good ideas. What the purpose of this church ought to be is for people to see God. Not pastor, not people.
But God, what is the purpose of your prayers? Is it to get what you want? Is it for people to see what you want them to see? Or is it for God to get the glory? And for God to be seen.
Notice before he ever asked for fire. He asked for God. Number five, we see the prophets position. I love this. He says, God, I want you to show yourself.
I want them to see you. You're the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He says, Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel. But notice what he says. that I am the guy that brought the fire.
No, he says this, and that I am. Viola. Servant. Elijah humbly acknowledges his role. not as a performer of miracles.
But as a servant. of the Most High God. If you and I are not careful, we're going to get real confused who makes things happen. You and I aren't careful. We're going to get real confused thinking: hey, I'm the guy that brings fire.
No, you're not. You and I, the highest calling we can have is to be a servant. of the Most High God. Elijah makes it known, God, if you do send this fire. I don't want people saying, look at Elijah.
I'm just the servant. of the one who sent the fire. I want you to notice Number six. The powerful proof. How do you know Elijah's a servant?
Elijah just claims, hey, I'm your servant. Anybody can say, I'm your servant. How do you know if they're a servant? How do you know if they're truly a servant? Look what he says.
And that I have done all these things at Thy Word. He declares his obedience, making it clear that everything he's done. He's done under divine guidance. You know how you know you're a servant of God when you follow his word. You're not a servant 'cause you say you are.
You're a servant of God because you serve You're God. I want you to notice, look at verse 5. 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell.
Now we're giving away two fire pits today and some other stuff and what's the whole purpose of that. Just for you to remember. But God sent the fire. Notice this. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is the God. Two things in this I want you to see. I want you to see the call and I want you to see the fire. The Bible said he called on Jehovah.
Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirkwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web.
at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
