The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: I do not care how much you pray every day. If there is a double-mindedness, let not that man think God is going to do anything for him.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans talks about the difference it can make when we truly dedicate ourselves to the Lord.

Dr. Tony Evans: Oh, do we need some committed Christians today who are so committed and so confident in their God, they do not mind being outnumbered.

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Many people who say they trust in God, but they trust in a lot of other things as well. But today, Dr. Evans takes us to the book of First Kings for a look at why anything short of total commitment to Christ simply falls short. Let's join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: We have seen some of the supernatural activity of Elijah, and we have tried to say the principle of God's supernatural work that we are discovering in his life relates to your life.

We come in chapter 18, and we come to a place where now the prophet Elijah confronts King Ahab. Verse 17, and when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is this you, you troubler of Israel?"

In other words, you are getting on my nerves, Ahab says. "Is this you, Elijah, you bringing all this trouble to Israel?"

Elijah responds, in verse 18, "I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, because you have forsaken the commandment of the Lord, and you have followed the Baals." You have followed the idols. So, he refuses to be politically correct. He says, Ahab, "You have brought this about because of your pursuit of idolatry."

You have caused the heavens to shut up. It is no longer raining. The culture is in trouble because you have pursued another god.

One of the reasons you are seeing all of this chaos around us, even in our culture and in our country, is because we have forsaken the Lord our God.

Elijah says, "Now send and gather to me all of Israel at Mount Carmel," verse 19, "together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashura," that is 850, "who eat at Jezebel's table."

He says, "Okay, let us have a let us have a fight at the O.K. Corral."

So, Ahab says, "Okay, you have got a deal. Let us go for it."

Verse 21. Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions?"

"If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.

It says the people were silent.

Why were they silent? Simple. They were not ready to commit. If you are not ready to commit, then stop dancing. Stop looking for a miracle and searching for a blessing.

It says, how much longer are we going to play religion and not be fully committed?

They said nothing because they were not ready to make a full commitment. And yet, he is calling on them just to do that.

Jesus says to reject lukewarmness, to reject double-mindedness. Let not the double-minded man think he shall receive anything from the Lord. James 1:5.

So, I do not care how much you pray every day. If there is a double-mindedness, a dancing between gods, a dancing between sources, let not that man think God is going to do anything for him. In other words, there is no miraculous coming your way.

Only what you create. There will be nothing from heaven because heaven is not going to support you while you date another god.

And so he says, "I need your full decision, your full commitment, and your full dedication."

So now, Elijah says, "I alone," verse 22, "am left the prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men." But since this is not a popularity contest, since this is not to see what the hotter numbers fare in my favor, I am ready to take my stand.

God is looking for some folk who, even though outnumbered, are willing to take their stand. Who, even though the other side has more than you, even though it looked like you are outnumbered in your among your friends, among your co-workers, or what have you, you are willing to be known as a follower of Jesus Christ. You are no longer going to be a secret agent Christian, a spiritual CIA representative, a covert operative. You are going to come out and make it clear where you stand.

He said, "This is how the numbers shape up." But in spite of that, we are going to put the true God to the test.

He says, "Why do not you bring, verse 23, two oxen and let the 450 choose one ox, and I will take whichever one they do not choose. Put it on the wood, put it on the altar, but do not put a fire under it."

"And then you 450, you call on the name of your God." And tell your God, "Light the fire."

Okay. Tell your God to be the Ohio players. Fire.

Tell your God to light it up. And then I will call on my God. And let us see whose God is the God of fire.

Now, unless you understand Baalism, you cannot appreciate this, but Baal was the God of fire, the God of the sun. So you figure, if Baal is in charge of the sun, he can light something up.

So he is challenging him at the very core of the greatness of their god. Says, "Let us see what your God can do." So they agree. He is so confident in his commitment to God that he will challenge the majority.

Oh, do we need some committed Christians today who are so committed and so confident in their God, they do not mind being outnumbered. Because they understand that once God, the true God is in the equation, the numbers shift.

That is why you, when God is your source, you are not intimidated by bigger people, more powerful people, greater numbers, none of that becomes a deciding factor because of who you have working with you. So he says, "Come on, let us not talk. Let us do this thing."

Let us do this thing. And so here is what they do.

The 450 agree, and so they chose the ox in verse 26. They took the ox and prepared it in the name of Baal. And from morning to noon, they were saying, "Oh Baal, answer us." But there was no voice. No one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made.

So they are in there with their God. "Oh Baal, oh Baal, let us have some fire, light them light the altar, oh Baal, oh great Baal." They are jumping around the altar, they are getting their praise on around the idol and and it says, and nothing happened. And there was no voice.

Now this is where we get to a little humorous part in the Bible. Gets a little humorous here in verse 27.

Because it says at about noon that Elijah mocked them. Okay, now it is 450 of them and it is one of you, this is not the time to be making fun of folk. But Elijah just standing there, and he mocks them. And look at how he mocks them. He says, "Why do not you why do not you call out louder?" Call out verse 27, "with a loud voice." "You are not screaming loud enough. He cannot hear you."

"Maybe he is occupied." He has got another meeting going on and he cannot get to you right now. So maybe that is why nothing is happening.

"Or maybe he is gone aside." Now, "gone aside" means maybe in the bathroom. He cannot get to you right now, because he is gone aside. Or maybe he is not gone aside, maybe he is on a journey. He is on a trip. You know, he is taking a vacation.

"Or perhaps he is snoring." He says, "Maybe he is asleep and you need to wake him up. So why do not you sing a little louder, praise a little louder, pray a little louder, and wake up your God."

Well, all he did was tick them off because in verse 28 it says, "They cried out with a loud voice and they cut themselves according to the custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out of them."

In other words, they are going crazy. They have lost their minds trying to make their God do something. 450 of them, while the audience of the Israelites stayed silent. They had nothing to say, nothing to contribute. It was one man taking his stand.

When midday was passed, verse 29, they raved until evening sacrifice. There was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come close."

"Come close." So all the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. Okay, let me stop there. Let me stop there. It says, he repaired the altar which had been torn down. That means, they had religion without commitment.

Because the altar had not been used. Now, what would they do on the altar? Sacrifices. Why would they make sacrifices? To deal with sin.

So what they were doing was having religion without dealing with sin. They were having religion without addressing what was the priority of God.

You see, one of the reasons you want two gods is you want a God you can worship on Sunday, but then you want a God who will let you do whatever you want to do on Monday. So you need two gods. You need a God because you believe the Bible, but then you need a God who will let you do who issues no orders, who makes no demands, who let you do what you want to do, but then you run to this God on Sunday to try to get it straight, but you know that God is not going to help you on Monday, so you need a new God on Monday to free you up to be in rebellion. Because people do not want the God of the Bible or the standards of the God of the Bible, they leave the altar of God unaddressed.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will talk about why we need to give up on religion and look for something different when he continues today's teaching in just a moment. Stay with us.

Leave the noise behind and find true rest, where ocean views, quiet moments, and meaningful connection come together. Join Dr. Tony Evans with special guest Priscilla Shire for a week of powerful teaching, meaningful fellowship, and renewal in God's presence. Visit Nassau, Grand Turk, Amber Cove and Half Moon Cay aboard the new Statendam, February 28th through March 7th, 2027. Reserve your spot today at tonyevans.org.

Today's lesson comes from Dr. Evans' powerful sermon series on Elijah. This six-part collection focuses on the lessons we can learn from one of the Bible's greatest prophets, about waiting for God's perfect timing, living a life that matters, overcoming fear and discouragement, strengthening our faith and commitment, and more. For a limited time, we are offering the Elijah series on CD, USB flash drive, or digital download as our thank you gift, when you make a donation to support our ministry outreach. And as an added bonus, we will also include a copy of the popular book, Prayers for Knowing God. In it, Dr. Evans provides 50 prayers that will help you better understand God's nature and attributes as you seek his help and direction. Take advantage of this offer while there is still time. Just give us a call at 1-800-800-3222, and one of our team members will be happy to help you. Our resource center never closes, so call us anytime at 1-800-800-3222, or visit us at tonyevans.org.

Right now, let us get back to more of today's lesson.

Dr. Tony Evans: You ought to be tired of religion by now. Religion cannot change you, religion cannot help you, and religion certainly will not bring heaven down to earth. What you need and I need and we need is a relationship, but you can only have a relationship on God's terms, and you cannot have a relationship on God's terms if you have got another God waiting for you tomorrow.

That is another source of your identity and your reality.

And so, Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, "Israel shall be your name." He took the 12 stones, verse 32. So with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

He got the spiritual priority back in order. And unless we do that as a church, unless that is the main thing, every other thing is a waste of time. He got the altar back, the spiritual part back, the confession of sin and the pursuit of righteousness back. The altar represented all that.

And then he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. So he digs this hole around the altar. Now watch what he does here.

He arranges the wood, verse 33, cuts the ox into pieces, lays it on the wood, and he said, "Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering." Now wait a minute. If you are trying to light up something, you do not pour water on it. You are trying to not to pour water on it. You want to keep it dry so that it lights quickly. But he pours water on it. Oh, but that is not all he does.

Because according to verse 24, it says, he says, "Do it a second time." So they pour water on it, they wet the wood, wet the ox, wet everything.

He says, "Pour four more pitchers on it." So okay, he does it again. Oh, but is he finished? No, "Do it a third time."

And they did it a third time. You remember the number three? The number three is restoration and resurrection. It is when God is going to reach down, grab something that was dead, and give it life again. It is where God reaches down. In other words, he is showing off.

He said, "Look, I am going to tell you, my God is so bad. We are going to wet this thing down, wet it down again, wet it down a third time." And the third time it says, "There was so much water that the water flowed around the altar and also the trench with the water." So not only was the wood wet and the ox wet, the trench around the whole altar was filled up with water. In other words, he is saying, "I am not only going to tell you I believe in God, I am going to show you how bad God is."

That we are going to make it hard for God to do a miracle.

But when you have that kind of relationship, where you can make it hard for God to do a miracle and still not sweat it.

Because I think a lot of us do not know who we are dealing with. We do not know who we are dealing with. That is why we need other gods. Not knowing that to take the other God is to lose the true God.

The Bible says in the New Testament that Elijah was an ordinary man. In other words, he did not have any unique powers. He was an ordinary man, but he connected with God.

And he saw a miracle. So he tells New Testament Christians, if you really want to see the miraculous God at work, it can come through ordinary people. Because he is just an ordinary man full of God.

So you do not mind that you are ordinary when your God is extraordinary, and if your ordinary self is connected with an extraordinary God, the miraculous is accessible to you.

So he prayed. At the evening sacrifice, "O Lord," verse 36, "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenant-keeping God. Today let it be known that you are God in Israel, I am your servant and notice this, I have done all the things that your word."

"Let it be known what you will do when people are committed to you and your word." In other words, I am not like y'all, I am not dancing. I am not like y'all, I am not going back and forth. I am totally committed to His word.

That is how you know if you are dancing or not. You know if you are dancing between gods by whether his word has the final say so in your decisions.

Let me say that again. The way you know you are a committed Christian is not because you shout. The prophets of Baal shouted. It is not because you dance around. The prophets of Baal danced around. It is not because you say amen. The prophets of Baal were screaming out and making all that noise. Oh, no.

He says, "Let it be known that I am for real because I obey your word." In other words, God, your word has the final say so over my decisions. Until you get to that place, you are not fully committed. If you are not fully committed, you have limited or lost access to the miraculous.

So, he says, "I have kept your word." "Answer me, O Lord," verse 37, "that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back again."

"And the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water in the trench."

Now, this is one of the scenes I want to see on instant replay when I get to heaven. Because it not only said the fire fell, it consumed, watch this, it consumed the wet ox. Okay, I can understand that.

But it says, it consumed the stones, the wood and the stones. But here is the part I like. It said, it licked up the water around the trench. So after it sucked up the ox and sucked up the stone, sucked up the wood, it went around the trench. It just licked up the water. In other words, God showed off. That is what God does. God was just showing off.

"Oh, Elijah, let me let me do my thing. Let me show you what I can do. Let me let me stick my tongue out and lick it up. Let me just. Let me just lick it up."

He showed off. Oh, and when you see God show off and show out for you. When you see him do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think. When you see because you rebuilt the altar of full commitment.

He says, he saw it. And then the people saw it. They fell on their faces and said, "The Lord, he is God. The Lord he is God."

I want the few who are fully committed to be able to call down the miraculous, that the many who are not committed decide it is better for them to be committed. I want the small group leaders to be so on fire for God that the people in your group see the miraculous happening through you and in you that they say, "Okay, I want to be like you." I want to be see the leaders so committed to God that people want to follow them because they say, "God is definitely in that place." That is what makes a great church and not just a place for religious activity.

Guest (Male): And we will have a closing thought from Dr. Tony Evans to wrap up today's teaching in just a moment. First though, he talked earlier about the importance of giving up on religion in favor of a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If you are not 100% sure what that means or how it happens, take a few minutes to visit Tony