Make Your Choice

Make Your Choice

March 15, 2026, Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: We MUST choose between following God or following the world.

Focus Passage: 1 Kings 18:20-40

Supplemental Passage: "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh 24:15)

Introduction: When I was a kid, a phrase I heard over and over was “In or out, but shut the door.” Sometimes it was, “Don’t just stand there with the refrigerator door open, choose something and shut the door!” Today, it is more like, “I don’t care what channel we watch, just choose something and quit flipping channels!” As Americans, we are presented with an incredible amount of choices. On our first day of furlough, after having lived in West Africa for 4 years, I went to the grocery store to get some cereal. In West Africa, there was a choice between 5 or 6 different boxes of cereal. Here in America, there is an entire aisle of cereal! Just the bran flake varieties are endless. I ended up leaving the store, after about an hour with no cereal. I stopped and got some donuts instead. Too many Christians seem to hesitate between the world and God. God is pretty clear about it; you can’t serve two masters. It’s time to choose!

I. The Call to Choose (1 Kings 18:20–21) Elijah gathers the people and confronts their indecision. Neutrality is impossible.

a. The People Were Hesitating Israel was limping between two opinions—trying to serve God and Baal. Matthew 6:24 — Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.”

b. The Prophet Was Confronting Elijah stands alone, yet he speaks boldly because truth does not depend on majority vote. Romans 12:2 — Do not be conformed to this world.

c. The Choice Was Clear If the Lord is God, follow Him. If Baal is god, follow him. But choose. Joshua 24:15 — “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”

II. The Failure of False Gods (1 Kings 18:22–29) Elijah exposes the emptiness of idols by letting them prove themselves—and they cannot.

a. False Gods Cannot Answer The prophets of Baal cried out from morning until noon, but “there was no voice.” Psalm 115:4–7 — Idols have mouths but cannot speak.

b. False Worship Exhausts but Never Satisfies They raved, cut themselves, and worked harder, but nothing changed. Jeremiah 2:13 — Broken cisterns that hold no water.

c. False Hope Ends in Silence After all their efforts, “no one answered, and no one paid attention.” Proverbs 14:12 — A way that seems right but ends in death.

III. The Fire of the True God (1 Kings 18:30–40) Elijah repairs the altar, prays a simple prayer, and God answers with consuming fire.

a. God Restores What Is Broken Elijah rebuilds the altar of the Lord—symbolizing restoration of true worship. Psalm 51:17 — A broken and contrite heart God will not despise.

b. God Answers the Prayer of Faith Elijah prays, not with frenzy, but with confidence in God’s character. James 5:16–18 — Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

c. God Reveals Himself with Power Fire falls, consuming the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and the water. Hebrews 12:29 — “Our God is a consuming fire.”

Application/Call to Obedience: On Mount Carmel, God made the truth unmistakably clear: He alone is God. The people fell on their faces and cried, “The Lord, He is God!” But the choice they made that day is the same choice every person must make. God has revealed Himself even more clearly through Jesus Christ—through His life, death, and resurrection.

Romans 10:9–10 tells us how that choice is made: “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

The fire on Mount Carmel proved who the true God is. The empty tomb proves who the true Savior is. The question remains: Will you make your choice?