BURN OUR HEARTS AGAIN
TEXT: 1 KINGS 18:1-46
THEME: LORD MAKE OUR HEARTS BURN FOR YOU
I remember 1 Kings 18 preached at Heritage Christian University during lectureship one year. It was being preached by Steven Guy. During this sermon I made a choice in my life. It was a choice that changed my life. It was my last year of my B.A program. I was going to graduate and work with the Hartsville Pike church of Christ. It was planned that while I was there I would work on a Master’s degree. I was seriously questioning if I should continue training in Biblical knowledge. People all round me, members of the church, elders were encouraging me to get a degree in another field. People were suggesting that I could not count on congregations providing for my family. So as an insurance policy, it would be wise for me to have another degree in another field. This was done just in case preaching did not work out. At the time I was considering going to get a MBA. It was a Master’s in Business Administration. This was a deeply difficult decision for the time. But during this sermon of Steven Guy’s it caused my heart to burn. This has happened to me a few times in my life. It happens during sermons that hit home. It is what the Bible talks about his cutting to the heart in Acts 2 and in Luke 24 when Jesus is talking to two travels. The text indicates that their hearts burned when the scriptures were opened up to them. I sat there feeling this burn in my heart. Maybe you have felt this way before during a sermon. This burns inside. When you feel it you know God’s word is working on you. During this sermon, the word was hot in the heart. I just remember the line “If God be God, then serve him.” This verse rings into my ears. If I truly believed in a powerful, almighty God, then would I not believe that he will look after me and my family? If God is, who am I to question Him? He will provide. I do not need an insurance plan for preaching. I just need to trust God.
Maybe you have felt this way before. You have questioned the role of God in your life. You have not rejected him. You have not turned your back on him. You just have not taken him serious. You have found yourself looking to something else for satisfaction. You have discovered yourself placing your trust in another area. You have allowed life to cause you to doubt the power of God in your life. You have become lax in attending worship. You have pretty much given up reading your Bible. And prayer is maybe done at the table, but you have not prayed in weeks. You are on autopilot was Christian. Your level of commitment is way down. And if you are like me you need God to come into that heart and make it burn again. You need the word to drive the message home. You need your heart to have a revival. You need to be motivated. You need to be spurned to action. You need to be pushed for serve the Lord. You need revival in your heart.
The reason you need revival is because you started to question the Lord. He just does not seem to be near. You cannot sense his presence. The people in Elijah’s day had the same concerns. 1 Kings 18:1-2 indicates “Now it came about after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth." So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.” This verse might seem of little importance, but really it is indicating the atmosphere of the time. The people are worried. In that day, rain was seen as a direct blessing from God. The people saw God’s flavor through the rains. Because there was no rain, and there was a famine in the Land, people started to question the presence of the Lord. Where is God during this time? These are the most difficult times for people. During difficult times people will start to turn to God for help. You lose the job, you lose a loved one, and you lose your purpose. People will start to look for God again. You begin to pray for His assistance.
I remember Jerry from a congregation in the past. Jerry was a highly successful business man. He had eight season tickets to the Tennessee Volunteers in the new section of the stadium. He lived in the private community in Gallatin, in a million dollar house on the lake. I still remember his story. He took me to a Volunteers game one Saturday. While we were traveling he was complaining about flying. I was telling him about some of my bad experiences. Then he interrupts to inform me that he never flies on public planes. Jerry was a buyer in a large company. Companies would contact him to showcase their products. If Jerry brought from you, it would be millions of dollars of profit for the company. I still remember what he told me. I told me about a company that asked him to come to the headquarters. The company wanted him to fly out of Nashville. Jerry, not being arrogant, just simply stated. “I told them if they wanted me to come, send the private jet to pick me up in Gallatin.” This was how powerful Jerry was. But I also remember the day he walked down the aisle crying. He had lost his job as the buyer with the company he worked for. Big house, big lifestyle, needs big money. Losing his job was a wakeup call to Jerry to get right with God. But within a month Jerry had a new job, with just as much pay and privilege.
But sometimes this relief does not happen this quickly. You lose your job, your spouse leaves you, your children forsake you, and your world starts to fall apart. These are the true tests. These are the times that people turn to Baal. And this is what the people did. Baal does not become popular when everything is great. But in this day he is. “"Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table." So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel, and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And 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. Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men” (1 Kings 18:19-22). God is not longer popular in this nation. The people have forsaken the Lord. You do not have 450 prophets of Baal without the support of the people. The people are running to the god of help. People are giving support to the god they feel is in control.
This is why revival begins with the people seeing the power of God again. People need to be reminded that God is still in control. We need to see the power of God working in life. This is why Elijah throws down a challenge to the prophets of Satan. He wants an altar built. They are to take an ox and call down the fire from heaven to consume it. So the prophets of Baal begin to make a plea to the god. They jump around. They cut themselves. They are doing everything possible for their god to response. But there is nothing. No fire, no voice, and ultimately no god. Elijah even mocks the prophets by teasing them that their god must be sleeping or maybe he is hard of hearing. So the prophets scream even louder and dance through the day begging for their god to act. And nothing.
So now Elijah takes twelve stones, which represent the twelve tribes of Israel. He uses the stones to build an altar for the Lord. He tells the people to get some pitchers of water and pour the water on the sacrifice. Then he gets even more water, enough that it fills a trench around the altar. Elijah is leaving any doubt behind him. If this bull is burnt, it will be from the Lord. He calls on the Lord. This is what happens “Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O LORD, art God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench” (1 Kings 18:36-38). And God acts. He leaves little doubt of who is in charge. God is, so serve him. God rules, so serve him. God is, so bow down to him. God is, so repent. And this is what the people do. They fall down to repent to the Lord. Look at the verse “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God” (1 Kings 18:39). When the people see the power of God, there is repentance. The people fall on their faces before the all powerful Lord. When the people saw the fire from heaven, the people fell to the ground.
And how long as it been for you since you have fallen before the Lord. How long as it been since your heart burned before the Lord. How long as it been since you have felt the burn from God. God still burns that altar today because our bodies are sacrificed to God. We are the sacrifice given to God. We are to burn because our hearts are to be a fire for the Lord. How long as it been still you have called on the Lord. Some of you have become dead spiritual. You might show up for worship, but your heart are far from God. You have turned to baal in your life. You have allowed sin to dominate your life. You have turned to baal with work. You have turned to baal in morality. You have sinned before God. And some of you may not even feel the burn. God is calling you back. You need revival in your heart. But you have become cold to God. And you need to fall on your face and repent. You need to be revived before it is too late for you. You need your heart to burn for the Lord again. Can you feel it in your chest? Can you feel the burn in your heart? Can you feel the prick in your heart? You have become dead to God and this means you have become a servant of Satan.
In 1801 Barton W. Stone was part of the great Cane Ridge Revival. This happened in Kentucky. It is estimated that 12,000 to 20,000 people attended this event. This event lasted for days. In the end, thousands of people responded to the gospel. Congregations in the area had increased by hundreds of people. Barton Stone said this event forever changed him. He believed it was an act from God. This event changed Barton W. Stone’s life. My baptism changed my life. Because I believe at these events, our hearts burned within us. It can burn through his word. It can burn through his worship. It can burn in your heart if you are spiritually alive. But it will not burn unless you admit, unless you repent. You have to allow the word to burn in your heart. I pray that it is burning now that it is telling you now to serve the Lord more fully this year then ever before. This is the year you will serve the Lord with all of your heart.
Because "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." Make up your mind on who you will serve.
