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. I'm doing You remember when you were drowning in? The sea of sin.
Going. down for the last time. When you call upon his name Did he reach down? His nail-scarred hand. And he lifted you up.
So remember where you were back then and thank him. For where you Are now and give him the glory for what he's done in. In your heart, He took you from sin and stride and gave a new start. He took your broken life and He made you come clean.
So take off those crowns of glory and cast them at the Savior's feet. Do you remember when with all your heart you long to serve Him? But you didn't think that Jesus could use someone like you. But look how he's used your life since he brought you out.
So remember where you were back then and thank him for where you are now. Give him the glory for what he's done in your heart. He took you from sin. And strife and gave a new star he took your broken life and he made you come bleed.
So take off those crowns of glory and cast him at the Savior's feet. He took your broken life and he made you come bleed.
So take off those crowns of glory and cast him At the same for what he's done in your heart, he took you from sin and stride and gave a new start. He took your rook and life and he made you cold.
So take off those crowns of glory. Glory and cast them at the same. Let me give you some context of 1 Kings chapter 18. We're obviously talking here about Elijah. Appreciate Brother Frank reading our passage.
Let me give you a little bit of historical content. We have what was called the divided kingdom. After the death of King Solomon, and I did share this on a couple of Sunday mornings as we went through our series on Jesus being the king. After the death of King Solomon, Israel, that you are very familiar with, split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.
This northern kingdom, which would be Israel, had ten tribes. And at that point, they were ruled by Jeroboam and later other kings. The southern kingdom was what we would call Judah, and they had two tribes. And that was ruled by David's descendants. And we know out of that lineage came Jesus Christ.
By the time of 1 Kings chapter 18, the northern kingdom, which you and I would call Israel, was deep in idolatry. And it was deep in rebellion against God. And it had started all the way back when they didn't want God as king, and then one thing led to another, and then the kingdom divided, and now things had gotten worse. And we have a king that comes on the scene here in 1 Kings, and his name is Ahab.
Now, Ahab is king of Israel at this time, but listen to what the Bible says. about this king. It says he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger. than all the kings of Israel that were before him. That is not a good statement.
Okay, of everybody before or after, this king made God more angry than any of them. And then he marries a lady named Jezebel. And she was such an evil woman that you don't find many named Jezebel. I would not recommend if you have a precious little baby girl, I wouldn't name her Jezebel, okay? I don't think I'd name a boy Ahab either, but Jezebel was a Phoenician princess.
but she was an ardent worshipper of Baal and Asherah.
Now under her influence, Ahab not only continued to worship Baal, but Ahab broke down the altars that had been prepared for the true God, and Ahab began to build temples and promoted idol worship, and he even began to persecute prophets of the Lord. And then in 1 Kings chapter 17, we have the arrival of Elijah. And Elijah appears in 1 Kings 17, and he makes a statement in verse 1 of chapter 17. He said, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, and they weren't worshiping the Lord God anymore under Ahab's reign, but Elijah shows up and he said, as the God of Israel liveth, there shall not be dew or rain in these years. And he pronounces a drought under the power of God.
And so in 1 Kings chapter 18, we've had over three years of drought. Elijah has been in hiding. Ahab and everyone is upset, mad.
Now the people are mad. They haven't had water. There's a drought. All these things are going on. Then all of a sudden, in chapter 18, Elijah shows back up and he confronts Ahab.
And when he confronts Ahab, it's at Mount Carmel. And he calls not just for King Ahab, but he says, King Ahab, I want you to. Bring all the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah. And I want to face them all.
So now here's Elijah. And it sounds like a wild story. Here's Elijah, one man of God. And then you have the entire northern kingdom of Israel, who basically had turned at this point, most of which to Baal worship. Then you have Ahab and Jezebel, and then you have 450 prophets of Baal, and then another 400 prophets of Asherah.
So you have one versus 850 plus a kingdom. And that's where we find ourselves in verse 17 of 1 Kings chapter 18.
Now, let's dig into it. I know our time is a little bit gone this morning, but God has some things that He had laid on my heart a good while back that we're going to begin today. Number one, I want you to notice a confrontation. with apathy. Look at verse 17.
All this goes on, and now Elijah shows back up, and it came to pass when Ahab saw. Elijah. That Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? We have this drought. We haven't had water.
You're the guy that's caused all the problems. Look at verse 18. And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou. and thy father's house. in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam.
Now therefore, here's Elijah's challenge: Send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel.
So I want everybody there, he says. And the prophets of Baal, 450, and the prophets of the groves, that's Asheroth, 400, which eat at Jezebel's table.
So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people. And now he has all the people, 850 prophets between Balaam and Asheroth. And then he has Ahab and Jezbel. He has everybody there on Mount Carmel.
And this is what he says: How long halt ye between two opinions? Right. If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, in other words, if Baal be God Follow him. And the people answered him not.
A word. Apathy. These people were stuck between two opinions. It had rendered them paralyzed. Not only could they not act, they couldn't even answer.
So, I want us to look as Elijah. You think, well, this is Elijah against Baal, and this is God against Satan, and it is all that, but can I tell you something? We're here. because the people of God had become apathetic. It's where it always starts.
By the way, listen, Kerwin Baptist Church, we don't worship Baal. We worship the true God. But let me tell you how it starts: is when people that in a church that worships the true God, when people start getting apathetic. That's right, it's good. Who knows where we will end up?
Listen, I can take you to properties today that I remember my dad preaching revivals in churches that were full. Jam-packed and on fire for God, that are now not even churches anymore. I want you to notice: number one, apathy blames everyone else but yourself. When you become apathetic, you begin to blame everyone else. And you never seem to blame yourself.
Now look here, verse 17. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah.
Now think about this. God had so greatly blessed Israel. Ahab now is king. Ahab marries a woman, Jezebel, that worships Baal.
Now they've got nothing but problems.
Now they've had drought for three years. And yet for somehow, Ahab thinks it's the man of God that's caused all the problems. Look what he says here. Art thou he that troubleth Israel? You've caused all this problem.
Can I tell you something? Media, you watch mainstream media. Guess who the fault of America is? The Christians. Guess who the jerks are, the Christians.
Guess who the idiots are? The preachers, the Christians. I mean, here's the guy that had caused everything because he had turned from God, worshiping Baal. He had brought all this on a kingdom. But he turns around when Elijah shows up and he says, You're the guy causing the trouble.
And so many times, when you and I get apathetic in our spiritual life, you know what? Before long, we're blaming everybody else. And everything else. Oh, it's the pastor. Oh, it's the choir.
It's the music. It's this. It's that. It's the youth pastor. It's the children's pastor.
It's the orchestra. It's those instruments. It's that song. It's this. It's that.
Well, it's too hot.
Well, it's too cold. I told you years ago, I visited right back behind here, and I knocked on the door of a gentleman. I'd first come and invited him to church. And he told me, he said, well, listen, I just gotta be honest with you. The church is right over there.
He said, it's really too close to drive, but it's too far for me to walk. Can I tell you something? I've been around long enough. You don't convince somebody like that. I said, well, God bless you.
Have a good day. I hope either he can find somewhere he can walk to or somewhere far enough to drive to. But odds are, if he's still alive, he's still sitting there. Before long, apathy. It's everybody else's fault.
It's their fault. It's my husband's fault, my wife's fault, my kids' fault, my parents' fault. It was my upbringing. That's what it is. I am so tired of hearing that one.
I am so tired of hearing.
Well, I was raised in a church and they were so strict, and it, I am so tired of hearing that. Can I tell you something? Apathy, when you get apathetic and your heart's out of it and you really don't care, you can blame mom, you can blame dad, you can blame church, you can blame religion, you can blame God, you can blame everybody, but can I tell you for some reason, it never seems to be us. Once you notice, number two, apathy doesn't just Blame everyone else but yourself. Number two, apathy cannot see the real problem.
And verse 18. Elijah answers back, I have not troubled Israel. And in the version of the Bible I'm going to write, you nut, that's what I'm going to add on there. That's a joke. It's a sarcastic joke, okay?
On my word, I'm going to end up in the sword of the Lord somewhere. I'm not writing a new version of the Bible, okay? Just want everybody to understand that. What did he say? I'm not troubled with Israel.
Look at this. But thou? And thy father's house. In that Yee. Have forsaken the commandment of the Lord.
And thou hast followed Balaam. Ahab says, You're the one causing all the issue, and Elijah says, No, I'm not the one causing the issue. And let me tell you what the real problem is: you've left God. Can I tell you something? And I want to help you today as much as I can.
You're like, well, this you know, you're having a lot of fun with the decoration and giveaways, and we're going to have a a wonderful five, six, twelve weeks, however long this thing takes, okay? But can I be honest with you? You and I sometimes We can't see the real problem and the real problem is us. Our heart gets cold, and we've seen it all, done it all, and now all we find is everything wrong with something. Apathy cannot see the real problem.
I watched.
some of our teenagers from a distance a little bit. I do have some still in youth groups, so I get a little bit of a feel sometimes about things. We had missions trip coming and You know, you would hear so-and-so's not going to go, so-and-so's not going to go, so-and-so's not going to go. And man, I understand there's vacations and things, and goodness gracious, we understand that's not a, we're not here to obligate or guilt. Listen, we have stuff, if you want to choose to use it for your kids, we're just trying to do something for God.
That's it. We're not here to guilt anybody. I promise you that. That is not what this church is built on.
Okay. But I would say that there are probably many that just didn't really want to go. We're not going to Disney. We're not going to Dollywood. We're not doing it, you know.
Missions trip, Florida, sweat. At least we had a good running air-conditioned bus to go on. I know that doesn't sound like a majority of the major All I'm saying is this, there is probably some some apathy. Even maybe in some that we're going. And then eventually, thank God, more came and more signed up to go and And you say, well, why are you saying that?
That sounds good. No, no, no, no. I'm saying from what I heard the kids say on Wednesday night of the missions trip. We had so many got up and said, I did not want to come on this trip. Had so many got up and said, The day we left, I did not want to be here, I did not want to come.
Apathy, apathy. And yet I watched God change their hearts. Can we get a little bit real this morning? Probably if we had to make a testimony service and you were really honest, some of you adults would have to stand up.
Well, I didn't really want to come this morning.
Well I didn't really want to get up this morning.
Well, I'll bounce with that. I didn't really want to come here, Brother Daniel preached today. We all struggle with it. And the problem with apathy is It tends to blame everyone else. and it can't see the real problem.
So I want to ask you today. I want to ask me today. Has apathy entered your life? Once you notice number three Apathy finds it difficult to choose. Not only Does apathy blame everyone else?
And not only can it not see the real problem, but apathy has a problem choosing. When you get apathetic, you don't really you can't see what's right or wrong. Notice, if you would, verse 21, and Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?
Now, I don't mean this in a critical way, but this could possibly describe some of us that are here today. You're stuck between two opinions. You're stuck between what God's word says, maybe even what the preacher says. But then you're stuck between that and maybe what social media says and what your friends might think and what your family might say. And you're kind of stuck between two opinions.
You feel one way, but you think another, and you're just stuck. And apathy gets to the point when you and I, when we get apathetic in our heart and our mind, it's hard for us to discern. It's hard for us to figure out: do I do this or do I do that? Do I go here or do I go there? And that's what apathy, when we go through the motions and we're still being obedient, but our heart is disengaged and we don't really care deep down.
And let's just be honest, we're just there. Our body's there. Maybe our mind is there half the time, but our heart is just not there anymore. And we get to that point, and now we're stuck between two things. I know what I should do, and I know what I really want to do.
And I know what I'm feeling, but I know what God's word says. And it's a miserable place to be for a Christian. One of the most miserable people in the world is a Christian that's apathetic. Because nothing can make you happy. Yeah, that's true.
Blow our brains out trying to make people happy that are apathetic and they can't be made happy no matter what we do. Andrew, have you ever been there? You've done this. 10 times more years than I have. I mean, there are some, Andrew, did you ever have Mondays that you were just ready to?
Give up, kill somebody.
Something Smoke, drink, something like that.
Some of you are like, yeah, I do that on Mondays. Oh, Lord. Apathy. finds it difficult to choose. You know, I think that's why God said: listen, I'd rather you be hot or you be cold.
At least hot can be good for something, cold pink can be good for something, but when you're lukewarm and you're in the middle, it doesn't help anybody and it doesn't help you. Number four. Please get this apathy struggles to act after making a choice. You know, when you get apathetic, not only is it tough to choose and you're kind of stuck and you don't know what, but even when you finally realize this is what I should do, you can't act. Because we don't care.
It's like you sit there like, I know what I should do. I know I ought to hit the altar today. I know that the preacher is preaching exactly to me today. I know God is speaking to me through what he is saying today, and the preacher might not even know it. And Brother Daniel, you don't even have a clue, but you're talking directly to me today.
God had all this lined up just for me today, and I'm probably not going to get to half of my message that I even had for today, but for some reason, God has me here, and I'm staying here at Kirwan Baptist Church till God lets me go. And it just might be that you're saying, Preacher, you're talking to me today. But even when you know God's talking to you, you know what apathy does? It finds it hard to finally even do anything. Look at the passage.
Look at verse 21. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, If the Lord be God, Follow him. In other words, you're stuck between two opinions. And these are the two opinions. If the Lord is God, then do something.
Follow him. If Baal is God, basically, follow him. You're gonna follow something. You're going to follow somebody. And many times in our life, when our heart is out of something, even when we know what's right, and even if we know what we should choose, and even if we know what's right, it's hard for us to actually get up and do something about it.
That's what apathy can do. You see, yes, Ahab was the problem, and yes, Jezebel was a problem, but can I tell you what I believe deep down was the real problem? It was the people of Israel. They had allowed Ahab to be the king. They had allowed Ahab to push his agenda.
They had allowed Jezebel to come in and turn a whole kingdom to Baal and take down all the temples to the real God and break down all the altars to the real God. And they started worshiping all this fake stuff and false stuff. But it's not like Israel hadn't done that before. Remember while Moses was up on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments and then they just went into all kinds of debauchery. It's not like they hadn't turned their back on God before.
And Colonel Baptist Church, lest we get real judgmental today, you've turned your back on God and so have I. You're right. We all have it many times. Elijah looks at him and he says, listen. You're stuck between two opinions.
So let me make it real simple for you. You're going to serve God or you're not. But don't think you're not going to serve somebody. You don't serve God, guess who that means you're serving. You don't serve God, guess who that means you're serving.
Well, I'm serving me, preacher.
Well, that's Satan. He says, let me make it simple. You're stuck between two opinions. If God's God, follow him. And if Baal's God follow him.
Won't you notice this last thing, apathy paralyzes. Look at verse 21. And the people answered him. Yeah. Not a word.
Man, couldn't get them to do nothing. They must have been Baptist, I guess. I don't know. On the average Sunday morning. Say something.
Do something. He says, You're stuck. Follow him, and what is about? They answered him not a word. They couldn't even answer.
They were so paralyzed. by their apathy. occur when I've not gotten very far. today and I know our time's about like where we would be normally it it's gone and we're But God put me right here for a reason this morning. And God has some young people get up here.
that are not apathetic after a week of missions. And here we have young people probably speaking to adults. That might be apathetic. That's not an accusation. Listen, when I showed up in Florida after a long trip too, when you're the guy that ultimately it falls on.
and everything kept breaking down. And um Yeah. Whoops. New tires here. Oh, we gotta put new tires on their bus since it woof psh pew.
We got a Lisa bus to come get the kids. And mission strips already cost us. And I'm going to tell you something, maybe on a budget sheet, it might not look the greatest. But when you saw what I saw. You see a bunch of kids?
That started off three days before apathetic. That are now engaged with God.
Now I don't know. A lot of might be already back apathetic again. I don't know. But I'm going to tell you something, just if I could see what I saw. And some of our kids I'd pay anything.
Sorry, I'm not sure. Money's just temporary? But what I saw is eternal. It's good. Are we apathetic?
Are we Truth be known, are you kind of halted between two opinions. Are you stuck? Apathy. Old Ahab says, you're the problem. Yeah, the man of God, you're the problem.
You're why we don't have water. And the man of God looks right back at him and he says, No, I'm not the one that's troubled Israel. Chill. It just might be that maybe right now, listen to me, Kerwin, when I'm going to be done.
Okay, I'm actually going to stop here. Brother John's probably laughing at what my message was supposed to be today and where we're stopping. It just might be that you're going through a spiritual drought. They had been in a drought three years, and Ahab said it's your fault, and Elijah said, No. It's your fault.
It just might be in your life right now, you're in a drought. And I'm sitting here saying it might not be all the reasons you think, and it might not be everyone else's fault that you and I can blame. It might be us. Lord, I love you today and I thank you for young people and interns that shared their heart. Lord, I wonder if there would be some.
Adults Leaders. Deacons. Pastoral staff. Sunday school teachers, choir members. That might would admit today.
I've got some apathy. I can feel it. I can sense it. Tell there's A bit of a drought. in my life.
God, we can't do anything until we're willing to admit it. We can't go any further. Till we're willing to realize where we are. You're not going to send water or rain until We understand the reason for the drought. 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.
