"Rebuilding Broken Altars— Restoring What Was Lost” Series

Rebuilding the Altar (2)

Dustin Lee Boden / General

“Rebuilding Broken Altars— Restoring What Was Lost”

Introduction:

Today, we are continuing our series “Rebuilding the Altar”. We kicked off this last week by discussing the “Significance of the Altar.

Today, as we dive into the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, we’ll uncover three essential steps to rebuilding what has been broken.

Elijah, a man of prayer, demonstrated the power of faith. James reminds us that Elijah was just like us, and when he prayed, fire fell from Heaven!

Here are the key steps:

1. Recognizing the brokenness

2. Rebuilding the Altar: A Call to Action

3. Expecting God's Response and Power

Fire doesn't fall on empty alters. There has to be a sacrifice on the alter for the fire to fall. If you want the fire of God, you must become the fuel of God.

~Tommy Tenney

Our main text today is…

1 Kings 18:30 ESV

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down.

~Opening Prayer~

After a long period of drought in Israel, the Lord speaks to Elijah and instructs him to go and present himself to King Ahab, promising that He will soon send rain.

Elijah obeys and begins his journey to see Ahab.

Meanwhile, Ahab has been searching for water throughout the land with the help of his servant Obadiah, who secretly fears the Lord and has hidden a hundred of God's prophets from Jezebel's wrath.

When Elijah meets Obadiah, he tells him to inform Ahab of his arrival.

Obadiah, worried for his life, hesitates but eventually agrees to relay the message.

When Ahab meets Elijah, he accuses him of being a troublemaker for Israel.

Elijah boldly counters that it is Ahab and his family's worship of Baal, not he, that has brought trouble upon Israel.

Elijah then challenges Ahab to summon the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel for a a significant face-off.

As we look at Elijah’s story, we find a nation in spiritual drought, not just physical drought.

The altars that once honored God had been abandoned, and in their place, the people worshipped Baal.

The very foundation of their relationship with God had crumbled, and it was time to face the brokenness head-on.

Just like Israel, many of us today are walking through life with broken altars—altars that once burned brightly but now lie in ruins.

Perhaps the altar of prayer in our own lives has been neglected or abandoned, and the passion we once had for God now feels distant.

• But before we can rebuild, we first need to recognize that something is broken.

• We can’t rebuild what we refuse to acknowledge.

Elijah recognized the spiritual state of Israel—he saw the brokenness and called it out.

He didn’t ignore it, and neither can we…

So, let’s look at this first step:

1. Recognizing the Brokenness

1 Kings 18:17–21 ESV

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.

19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

1. "You can’t fix what you won’t face; recognizing the brokenness is the first step to restoration."

a. Brokenness is a place where someone is disconnected from God.

i. It is a place where sin, compromise, and idolatry have taken a deep root and it has led them to a place where God is absent from their lives and now there is a loss of His spiritual power, provision, authority, blessing and leading.

b. Our passage begins with the recognition of a spiritual crisis in Israel—idolatry and the worship of Baal, which has led to a severe drought as a judgment from God.

i. Ahab, the king of Israel has led the people into idol worship and away from God.

ii. SO, God sends Elijah to confront Ahab…

iii. This meeting is not just a POLITICAL confrontation, but a spiritual one, and it is meant to EXPOSE and ADDRESS the brokenness of Israel.

iv. God told the people after they came out of Egypt...Don't worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the LORD, am your God. I hate my people worshiping other gods. Exodus 20:4...