Are You Going to Stand Up
1 Kings 18:20-40
Intro: Just a couple of weeks ago our nation was in a time of mourning with the passing of President Gerald Ford.
For many, myself included, President Ford has always been an interesting character in American politics…often referred to as the “Accidental President”.
He grew up in Michigan and was renamed Gerald Ford Jr. after his step-father who adopted him as his own son.
He went on to play football at the University of MI, playing on 2 national championship teams before enlisting in the military.
Like many of the great leaders from that “Greatest Generation”, President Ford fought in WWII and received many honors for his bravery.
After his time on active duty he returned to MI where he would begin his career which eventually took him into the US House of Reps for MI’s 5th district, a seat he held for 24 years beginning in 1949.
In 1973, while serving as House Minority Leader, he was tapped by Richard Nixon to replace Spiro T. Agnew as Vice President after he was forced to resign in scandal.
This begins the “Accidental President” role since Ford never had any intention of holding an office higher than the Speaker of the US House of Reps.
Less than a year later he found himself being sworn in as President of the United States when Nixon resigned under the threats of impeachment.
Our nation was in chaos at that time, and Gerald Ford was the new captain…and was a fish out of water.
Yet, he stood strong and brought the remaining troops home from Vietnam and also made a decision that many say would destroy his chances of re-election…a month into his tenure he gave Richard Nixon a full pardon.
Although most people look back on that and agree today, 32 years later and say it was the right thing to do…it wasn’t seen that way back then.
And it had a lot to do with his loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Why did he do it? Because he felt it was the right thing to do in order to bring healing to our country.
His back was against the wall, and he decided to stand up for what he thought was right.
This morning, as we continue on in 2007 with a “Bring it On!” attitude, I want us to read a passage of scripture about one of the greatest Biblical characters in all of Scripture…who stood strong when His back was against the wall.
Read 1 Kings 18:2-40 and pray.
When your back is against the wall, what are you going to do?
Are you going to run, or will you stand up?
This morning in want us to consider 3 truths from our passage that will help us to stand up when we need to.
First of all…
1. Walk With a Fearless Faith
Go back to 7-10, and then 15-21.
Elijah was outnumbered, but he stood defiant.
Why was that? It was because he had a fearless faith in God.
What is faith? Have you ever really tried to define it?
In Scripture, we only find one real working definition of faith: Heb. 11:1
We tend over-complicate faith…making it something that it is not.
ILLUS: I’m not sure how your kids are, but my kids have a favorite past time…bouncing on the bed.
Who needs Disney World? All we need is a hotel with a sturdy bed and a pool to make our kids happy! Daddy can play the role of Goofy!
Here is what faith is, my kids jumping on bed and saying, “Daddy, catch me” and knowing I’m going to be there.
And if they do something wrong where I can’t catch them…I’m there to pick it up.
That is faith…knowing that if you jump on His command, our great God will catch you; and if you stumble, He will pick you up.
It is that type of childlike faith that we are called to have, and Jesus spoke of.
Read: Mark 10:13-16
What is child like faith…it is one of total dependence.
It is one that doesn’t look with eyes, but gazes with the soul.
It doesn’t see necessarily what is, but has a firm grasp on who God is.
It is a faith that doesn’t need to feel reality, but has a reality in the heart.
AW Tozer in Pursuing God says, “Faith is all important in the life of soul. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith will get me anything, take me anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can be no approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no communion, no spiritual life at all.”
Faith effects us 2 ways:
A. We are saved by faith (Eph. 2:8-9)
B. We live by faith (Gal 2:20)
Trans: What about you?
Are you living by faith?
Have you been saved by faith? If not, you can be today.
Here is how….
2nd truth I want us to see this morning is that you need to…
2. Build Upon a Foundation of Prayer
Let’s look at Elijah’s prayer.
Read verses 36-37.
Elijah knew that if he was going to fight on that day, he was going to fight like a man…upon his knees.
An acronym for you today, PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens
Elijah was willing to do that, pray, pray and pray some more.
He would have prayed until something happened.
Quote from Dr Ryland, a Baptist leader from the previous century once said: “Prayer has divided seas, rolled up flowing rivers, made flinty rocks gush into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, disarmed vipers and poisons, marshaled the stars against the wicked, stopped the course of the moon, arrested the sun in its rapid race, burst open iron gates, recalled souls from eternity, conquered the strongest devils, commanded legions of angels down from heaven. Prayer has bridled and chained the raging passions of man, and routed and destroyed vast armies of proud, daring, blustering atheists. Prayer has brought one man from the bottom of the sea, and carried another in a chariot of fire to heaven.”
That is the type of prayer that Elijah prayed on that day, and we should pray if we want to see God move in a God sized way.
I think to often when we pray, we pray that God will move…and when we don’t sense Him “moving” we stop praying.
Have you tried praying for God to move you for a change?
Are you willing to pray in faith…the same faith we just talked about.
It is a belief that God hears you, God responds to you and God will speak if you stop long enough to listen to Him!
Get this, in the Gospels we find the word, “pray” used in some sort at least 53 times, and about 30 times in the book of Acts…the blue print for the Church.
If prayer was that important to Jesus and that important to the early church…shouldn’t it be that important to us?
Shouldn’t we be willing to bathe anything and everything we have in prayer?
The Apostle Paul wrote in Eph. 6:18, “…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Prayer is our first and our last line of defense as believers.
It is a gift we should take full advantage of, but don’t.
Our foundation should be built upon prayer.
Finally, our text tells us that we need to…
3. Be a Fanatic for God
Read verse 31-35
Elijah did what He did because he wasn’t just a casual “pew sitter” that had a Sunday morning faith…but he was totally, head over heals sold out to God and was willing to do whatever it was God said to do.
He was a fanatic for God.
Because this word today has a negative connotation, I want us to first of all define it.
Definition of fanatic from Webster’s: marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion
What I’m not referring to:
• Places like the Branch Davidian complex in Waco
• People like Hamas, Hezbollah or Al Qaida
• Dates like 9/11
What I’m saying is that God is so important in your life, that you are going to stand up, no matter what.
Here is the sad thing: we are more than willing to do this on Friday nights, Saturday afternoon, or Sunday for our favorite ball team…but come 11:00 on Sunday morning you look like death warmed over.
ILLUS: College at WCC, going to basketball games…favorite place was Xavier of NO; a traditionally African American school.
Other than our coaches, a couple of the players and our cheerleaders…me and my friends were the only Carey fans there, and the only white guys too.
But it didn’t matter to us, we were representing the Crusaders in the Barn; and we got as loud and vocal as some of the Xavier fans.
Why? Because we believed in our team.
As a born again believer…you are on God’s team.
It doesn’t matter what happens to the Hogs or the Tigers, the Cowboys or dare I say the Saints, the Mavericks or the Hornets…or whoever your favorite team.
It is all just a game, and when the game is over…you close the doors and shut off the lights.
But on God’s team, eternity is on the line.
There will not be a new champion crowned next season because the battle has already been won.
Read: John 20:19, 1 Cor. 15:55-57
And I can’t even get an “Amen” for that?
You see, if you are a fanatic for God, these verses should send shivers up and down your spine, and they should make you want to shout “Halleluiah!”
I’ll read them again, and let me ask you again as I read it…are you going to stand up?
Reread verses.
Closing:
Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:13, “If I am out of mind it is for the sake of Christ…”.
I’m not asking you to be “out of your mind this morning”, and I’m not suggesting we all need to be a bunch of religious nuts.
But I am saying this, Christ should be making such an impact on our lives as born again believers that we should be willing to stand up for His cause.
We do that by having a faith that is fearless, a foundation of prayer and you should be God’s biggest fan.
Are you going to stand up this morning?
If you are not a born again believer…
If you are a believer…
