Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Elijah, we're told in James, was a man just like us. God did a miracle in response to Elijah's prayers. He prayed and it stopped raining, he prayed and brought life back to a sick and dying boy. In 1 Kings 18, we're presented with what is probably the most famous story in Elijah's life where he has a showdown with the prophets of Baal. Elijah prays and fire descends from heaven.

There's a big statue at Mount Carmel, which is right outside the modern city of Haifa, probably if not exactly very close to the occasion where this happened. A showdown finally is brought about between Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Elijah and Ahab, and it's like the ultimate fighting championships. Elijah stands there and all these prophets of Baal come out, and Elijah says we're going to see who the true God is because the true God is going to be able to hear and answer prayer and send down fire from heaven.

1 Kings 18:20 says, "So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, 'I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.'"

"Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the god who answers by fire, he's God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." So they took the bull given them and they prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "Oh, Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

And at noon Elijah began to taunt them. I like this guy. "Hey, shout louder!" he said. "Surely he's a god! Perhaps he's in deep thought, or he's busy, or traveling. Or maybe he's sleeping; you got to wake him." So they shouted louder, they slashed themselves with swords and spears as was their custom until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

Did you get that? Now you could put in the place of Baal any god that anybody has ever worshipped at any time, any god that anybody worships here in south Orange County. No response, no answer, no one paid attention. And then Elijah said to the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord which was in ruins. And Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, "Your name shall be Israel."

And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he arranged the wood and cut the bull into pieces and he laid it on the wood, and then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." Now remember it hadn't rained in over three years. Water's a precious commodity. So he is taking great pains to demonstrate the miraculous.

Verse 35: The water ran down the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you're turning their hearts back again."

Do you catch the intent of the prayer? The prayer wasn't to have fire come down out of heaven. The prayer was God, show yourself for who you are. God, show these people that you're the one true God. God, reveal yourself so that people would be brought back to you. God, show that Baal isn't God, you're God. Verse 38: And then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!" And then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away." They seized them and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there. Wow. This past spring when I was in Israel, I went up to Mount Carmel, stood there where this scene played itself out, read this passage of scripture and I was just trying in my mind's eye to envision what that must have been like.

When Elijah stood there and 450 guys on the other side of the line of scrimmage and boldly prayed for God to do a miracle and God did it. And then without hesitation rounded up all the prophets, walked down the hill and slashed their heads off. Wow. Elijah was a man just like us, James says. And he prayed and in spite of total opposition God came through. God heard his prayer, God answered his prayer, God glorified himself through the prayers of Elijah. God did a miracle.

Elijah prays and it begins to rain. Remember that's what James says: he prayed and it stopped raining, he prayed and it started to rain again. So now it's come full circle. He confronts Ahab, he prays it stops raining, he prays and raises this sick, dying boy back to life, he prays fire comes out of heaven. Everybody sees that God is the God who answers prayer. And with that audience gathered around in that moment of God's victory, Elijah says, "Ahab, you better get yourself ready and go get an umbrella and a raincoat because it's going to start pouring."

1 Kings 18:41: Elijah said to Ahab, "Go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain coming." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel and he bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. This was the posture of prayer, he bent down. There are in the Bible all these scriptures that describe our body as the conduit of our heart's desire. So we're told that we lift hands in praise and worship, we clap hands in singing songs of joy.

But there's the bowing down which actually both in the Hebrew and the Greek words for worship, their root meaning is really to bow down. So here is Elijah getting on his knees and putting his head down in prayer. And we're told he did this and he told his servant, "Go and look towards the sea." Mount Carmel is about 10 miles inland as I mentioned, it's right off the modern city of Haifa. So you can see standing up there on a clear day, you can see the ocean.

He says, "Go and look towards the sea" and he told his servant and he went and looked and he said there's nothing there. So seven times Elijah said this. So in other words, he prayed and repeated his prayer seven times. It didn't just happen the first time he prayed it. Go back. And on the seventh time the servant responded, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you."

Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds and the wind rose and a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. Standing up on Mount Carmel you look down on the Jezreel Valley which is also the Valley of Megiddo where we get Har-Megiddo or Armageddon where the final battle on earth will take place. The city of Jezreel is about 18 miles from the top of Carmel and Ahab gets in his chariot and he takes off for Jezreel because he had a summer home there in Jezreel.

Verse 46 says the power of the Lord came upon Elijah; tucking his cloak into his belt he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. So here's the scene: he takes off in the chariot in the midst of this rainstorm to Jezreel and the power of the Lord comes on Elijah and he runs the 18 miles faster than Ahab gets there in the chariot. I bet there's some guys in the Olympics who would like the power of the Spirit on their lives right now. Elijah prays and it rains; he does a miracle.

Now remember Elijah was a guy just like us. Some of you might be thinking, well so far he doesn't sound like a guy like me or a gal like me. He sounds like someone who just trusts God without any wavering or doubt or unbelief or any fear. He sounds like what I think about all these people when I read about them in the Bible. They're different than me; the Christian life works for them, it doesn't work for me like that.

Elijah was a person just like us because Elijah prays for death, but God gives him strength and a new assignment. 1 Kings 19: "Now Ahab told Jezebel, that's his wife, everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, 'May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.' Elijah was afraid and ran for his life."

And when he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. So here's the guy who stands up to the King of Israel and says, "I'm going to stop the rain through my prayers." Here's the guy who stands up to 450 prophets of Baal and says, "Let it be known that there's only one God in Israel." And then when God answers the prayer, he has their heads chopped off. Here's the guy who one woman says, "I'm going to get you" and he takes off and wants to die. Men, is he not a guy just like us? Come on.

You know people look at this passage and dissect it from a lot of different angles. There's the spiritual warfare that's going on here and how a lot of times after a great victory we're most vulnerable. He's exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually. There's all kinds of stuff going on here that is reading between the lines. But the issue, as the divine commentary of James tells us, is Elijah was a man just like us. Yeah, he had great victories, but he also has fears.

He also had struggles. He also was prone to depression and discouragement. He was prone to deception. He had times when he was willing to go out in the field and just take on anybody and times when he just wanted to die. Elijah was a guy just like us. But guess what? God heard and answered his prayers. That's why he's in the Bible, that's why James tells us that so that we will pray and believe and understand that God will hear and answer our prayers.

1 Kings 19 continues, while he himself, verse 4 says, went on a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I've had enough, Lord," he said, "take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors." Just this phenomenal victory and one word of discouragement and he goes, "I just want to die." You know psychologists have done studies to show that you need seven really positive affirmations to counteract just one critical statement.

In other words, you can have six people say you're looking great and one person say, are you sick? You're not very well. Did you gain a little weight? And then you think I'm fat and ugly, I just want to die. You need seven positives to counteract one negative. That's just the way we're wired. And Elijah was the same way. Here he has the greatest victory of his life and in the kingdom's life of Israel at that time, and he gets threatened and he just wants to die.

In fact, he prays to die. Aren't you glad that God doesn't answer every prayer that you pray? Verse 9: He went into a cave and spent that night there. And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant and broken down your altars. They've put your prophets to death with the sword. I'm the only one who's left, and now they're trying to kill me too."

Ever find yourself trying to give information to God that really he already knows? You know, it's not like we are informing God about things in our prayer. We try to throw in all these details. Lord, you know me, JP, I'm pastoring over at Crossline Church, I live at 14 Kingfisher Court, my wife's Donna. It's like he doesn't know that? The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he pulled the cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

And then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And he replied, "I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, they've broken down your altars, they've put your prophets to death by the sword. I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too." And the Lord said, "Go back the way you came and go to the Desert of Damascus. And when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram and also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel."

"And anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as a prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Oh, and by the way, I've reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal, all whose mouths have not kissed him. You're not the only one left, Elijah." We get that Elijah syndrome. I'm the only one.

Works for other people, doesn't work for me. My experience is unique, my problems are different than everybody else's. We get that Elijah syndrome and God so graciously doesn't answer Elijah's prayer, which was to die. Instead he strengthens him, he encourages him, and he gives him a new assignment. Elijah was a man just like us. And in James chapter 5, the larger context of that passage says this: If any of you are in trouble, pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

Is any of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he's sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other, pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it didn't rain on the land for three and a half years.

And again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crops. My brothers, if any of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins. There are two kinds of people here: those who need a miracle and those God is laying on your hearts to pray for a miracle for someone.

God hears our holiest prayers and he answers. God does miracles and prayer is the means by which God visits and blesses his people. Elijah was just like us. This morning, what is God saying to you? What is God's word to you? Are you like that widow whose son was on the verge of death and you need a miracle in your life? Or are you like Elijah and God is saying, trust me and ask me for miracles?

Pray for yourself, for your family, for the church, be an intercessor and I will show myself strong and do a miracle in response to your prayers. I want to close our service by giving an invitation and it's an invitation for you to say, I am responding to what God is doing. If you need a miracle, don't be ashamed to say I need a miracle in my life. In fact, I'm just going to ask you just to come up here and stand in prayer.

I need God to do a miracle. If God is saying you need to be like Elijah, you need to take me at my word, you need to ask God to do miracles, you need to be a prayer intercessor for your family, for this church, for my people. If God is saying I'm calling you out to be someone whom I use as a prayer warrior, I want you to come up here and say I want to be like Elijah. I want to be a person who prays for miracles and see God do what only God can do.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, *Facing Goliath*. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at CrosslineChurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in this whole series looking at heroes. We're looking at the men and women of faith who made a difference in their generation for God. And what we're seeing is that God used people who were real people, normal people. There wasn't anything extraordinary about the people whom God used. They were people with weaknesses and fears and struggles, but they surrendered their lives to God, they experienced the power of God in their lives, and they were led by God to make a difference in their generation.

God is looking for men and women who will be heroes for him. God's looking for people who are available to serve him, to love him, and to proclaim him to a lost world. We can be those people. We can be the kind of people that make a difference in our generation because we surrender our whole lives to God. We're looking today at Elijah. Elijah was a bold prophet. Many of us remember the story in 1 Kings 18 where Elijah stands up to the prophets of Baal and he says if God is God, worship him; if Baal is God, worship him.

But you decide, don't be torn between two opinions, make your decision. And standing alone for God on Mount Carmel, Elijah calls the whole people of Israel back to worshipping the one true God. That story's one of my favorite stories in the Bible and it speaks to the boldness of Elijah's courage and faith in God. But the reality is Elijah didn't maintain that kind of boldness all the time. In fact, as the story continues in 1 Kings 18 and on into 1 Kings chapter 19, we see that after that great tremendous high, it was followed by a spiritual low.

Elijah became vulnerable. He was physically tired, he was emotionally tired, he was spiritually depleted, and he became weak and vulnerable to the attack of the evil one. And in fact, Elijah experienced a depression. It's quite common for people of God to struggle with fear, to struggle with weakness, to struggle with self-doubt, to struggle with depression. And whether our experience is a high or our experience is a low, we need to find that secret of abiding in Jesus Christ and calling upon the Lord and seeing God work in our life.

We need to be people who call on the Lord in every circumstance and every experience. In fact, in the book of James, that's what it tells us and it uses Elijah as an example. It says in James, "Therefore confess your sins to each other, pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." And Elijah was a man just like us, and he prayed and God answered his prayer. God will hear and answer our prayers when we call out to him.

We can be like Elijah, not because we're bold and courageous, but because we are people of prayer. Do you want to be that kind of person who can move your generation and be a hero for God? Then become a person of prayer. Let's ask God to make us that and make us those kind of people. God, we pray to you now and we ask that you would give us the kind of faith that Elijah had to call out to you and to believe you to do miracles. Use us, God, to change the world for Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at CrosslineChurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to CrosslineChurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.