Introduction
We’re continuing our thoughts during this sizzling hot summer about different fiery stories in the Bible. In today’s story, things are all fired up.
What gets you fired up?
What gets your engines running?
What Makes People “Fired Up”?!
FEBRUARY 22, 2013 BY JCLFALTOT
https://jclfaltot.com/2013/02/22/what-makes-people-fired-up/
It’s an interest question that we ask ourselves.
But where did that phrase come from? Why is it that we describe our feelings as being all fired up.
Well, a Google search isn’t going to give you the answers, but here’s what we each know: to be fired up is to ignite a response from deep within our core beings.
When we think of a fire burning, we picture sparks of orange and yellow rising from a central location. The fire was lit by something or someone and now that fire is engulfing any object it can in order to stay burning. Perhaps it is wood, coal, or something else. If fire were a living thing, we would probably put it in the predatory category. In order for a fire to sustain itself, it must devour other things to survive. Not just eat either. Devour. That’s exactly what fire does — it removes all evidence of the object it was lit upon. And whatever that object was before, it’s been changed forever from its original state.
When we think of people getting fired up about something, we often think about them being passionate about something. This passion could be a cause like cancer research, volunteer work, or even mentoring.
So what gets you fired up this morning?
Every Member Is a Sinner
By Russell Brownworth
Copied from Sermon Central
There's an old preacher story about the preacher one time who was getting fired-up in his sermon. He thundered, "Every member of this church is a sinner!" When he hollered this a second time for emphasis, there was a man on the back row who had a broad smile come across his face. The preacher thought he hadn't gotten through, so he cranked up the volume and bellowed, "EACH and EVERY member of this church is a sinner deserving Hell!" Still nothing — the man smiled even bigger. So finally the preacher tried the direct approach, "Mister? You there on the back row; I said every member of this church deserves to go to Hell — didn’t you hear me, man?"
The man laughed out loud and said, "I'm not a member of this church!"
What is it that we are passionate about today?
For some people it is charity work. For some people it is their jobs. For some people it is sports. For some it is some hobby they enjoy. For some it is their family.
There are a lot of things about which we can be passionate.
There were many things that got the people fired up in Elijah’s day. Unfortunately, God wasn’t one of them.
As a matter of fact, religion really didn’t seem to be one either. As we will see in a minute, when asked who they were going to stand for, the people didn’t answer.
Let’s read Elijah’s fiery story today from 1 Kings 18. It is a long passage, but I think it’s important to get the background leading up to the events we will be focusing on here shortly.
1 Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!” 2 So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.
Now, in between verse 2 and 16, there’s a subplot about Obadiah finding Elijah. Obadiah is afraid of being killed by King Ahab if he tells King Ahab where Elijah is, and when they go to find Elijah, he has disappeared. But Elijah promises to Obadiah that he plans to meet with the King. So continuing on with verse 16:
16 So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”
18 “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 19 Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”
20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. 23 Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. 24 Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.
25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.”
26 So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made.
27 About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”
28 So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. 29 They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.
30 Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. 31 He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, 32 and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. 33 He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood.
Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”
34 After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!” And when they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said, 35 and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”
38 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”
40 Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.(1 Kings 18, NLT)
So let’s look at this fired up story this morning to see what we can learn about God and His relationship with us.
1. The first thing we see about God is that He is the God who wants it all.
Reminds me of an old rock song, “I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now!” If you know that one, you’ve just dated yourself.
If God were playing a game of poker, He would have just taken all of the chips.
God was all in.
God was playing for keeps.
God doesn’t do things half-way or half-baked.
Elijah had asked the people to make a decision — which way will you go?
Yet none would speak. None had the courage to stand up for what they believed in.
Maybe it was that they were afraid.
Maybe it was that they really weren’t passionate about anything.
Maybe they really didn’t care.
Maybe it was just a carnival game for them.
But for God, it was no carnival game.
It was all or nothing.
Play big or go home.
It’s reminiscent of the words of Joshua so many years before: choose this day whom you will serve. You can’t wavier on either side. You must make a decision. For me and my family, though, we will serve God. (Joshua 24:15).
It’s all.
It’s everything.
With God, He consumed it all. He took it all for Himself.
The sacrifice. The wood. The stones of the altar. The water around the altar.
All.
It reminds me of the old hymn, “I Surrender All”.
I Surrender All
101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, copyright 1985, Kregel Publications
p. 135-136
The text was written by Judson W. Van de Venter describing and recalling the day he surrendered all.
Judson was born on a farm near Dundee, Michigan, in 1855. He graduated from Hillsdale College and became an art teacher and the supervisor of art in the public schools of Sharon, Pennsylvania.
He began working in some of the evangelistic meetings being held in his church. Some of his friends urged him to give up teaching and become an evangelist. For five years, he bounced back and forth between the two parts of his life. But eventually, he decided to surrender all.
He writes: “For some time, I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered deep down in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing.”
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
God wants our all. Not just the Sunday part. Not just the convenient part. Not just the leftovers. God wants it all.
2. We also see that God is the God who answers.
Throughout Scripture we see that God proves Himself over and over.
God is the God who does what He says He will do.
God is the God of kept promises.
And God tells us over and over to call out to Him and He will answer.
President Makes Phone Number Public
"Indonesian Leader Gives Out Cell Number," suntimes.com (6-14-05); submitted by Marti Pieper, Charleston, South Carolina
Copied from PreachingToday.com
Reminds me of an article I read about former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Sue-sil-o Bam-bang Yood-ho-yo-no). It sounded like a good idea at the time. The former President wanted to emphasize his desire to help cut through bureaucracy, he decided to make his cell phone number available to the public.
His political savvy short-circuited, however, when he quickly received thousands of text messages. The increased volume overloaded his phone just one day after he invited citizens to contact him directly.
Thankfully, God has a much simpler system, one that doesn't fail or require assistance from the tech team. Call on Him. He answers all messages and he's never out of range.
The Psalmist writes in Psalm 91:
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who
love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”
(Psalm 91, NLT)
Now we have to be honest. God sees the bigger picture. God knows more than we do.
When we call out to God, He will answer. He will always answer. But His answers are not always what we want them to be. And that’s hard for us. It’s hard to have plans go different that what we laid out. It’s hard to have people go to their heavenly home before we think they should. It’s hard to accept God’s answers when they do not match our expectations.
But always God answers in the way He knows to be best.
God answers in ways we do not always understand.
For example, why did Elijah pour water all over the sacrifice, the kindling, the altar, and the ground around the altar? That seems like a very strange thing to do if you are going to light a fire.
But that allowed God to prove Himself — to answer Elijah — in a completely miraculous way.
The prophets of Baal were hoping for an answer. But it wasn’t coming.
They were like the folks who were praying to a broken Buddha one time.
Broken People Praying to a Broken Buddha
By J.R. Vassar
J.R. Vassar, Glory Hunger: God, the Gospel, and Our Quest for Something More (Crossway, 2014), pp. 35-36; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky
Copied from PreachingToday.com
Pastor/author J.R. Vassar writes about ministering in Myanmar (Mee - yan - mar) and coming upon a broken Buddha:
One day we were prayer walking through a large Buddhist temple, when I witnessed something heartbreaking. A large number of people, very poor and desperate, were bowing down to a large golden Buddha. They were stuffing what seemed to be the last of their money into the treasury box and kneeling in prayer, hoping to secure a blessing from the Buddha. On the other side of the large golden idol, scaffolding had been built. The Buddha had begun to deteriorate, and a group of workers was diligently were repairing the broken Buddha. I took in the scene. Broken people were bowing down to a broken Buddha asking the broken Buddha to fix their broken lives while someone else fixed the broken Buddha.
Today, we are no different than those folks. We are broken people looking to other broken people looking to broken things to fix us.
That’s what the people in Elijah’s day were doing. They were looking to that which was not going to answer — that which was made from earthly hands — that which came from a broken world.
But when we seek the perfect God, He will answer. In perfection. Every time.
Because He is the God who answers.
3. Finally, God is the God who comes through with fire.
God wasn’t playing around that day on Mt. Carmel.
The prophets of Baal thought that Baal was at the top — was God of all. But they found out differently.
It’s like an excerpt from a comedy skit Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did back in the late 1960s.
FALSE PROPHETS AND MESSIAHS
Tim Carpenter
Copied from sermons.com
Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called the "2000 Year Old Man". There are a bunch of clips from the skit all over YouTube. Some of them are absolutely hilarious. Go look that up when you get home.
Anyway, in the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the 2000 year old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, "Did you always believe in the Lord?"
Brooks replied: "No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him."
Reiner: “You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?”
Brooks: “Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!”
Reiner: “Did you have prayers?”
Brooks: “Yes, would you like to hear one? O Phil, please don't be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.”
Reiner: “So when did you start worshiping the Lord?”
Brooks: “Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we said to one another, ‘There's somethin' bigger than Phil!’”
The prophets of Baal certainly found out that there was something bigger than Baal that day.
God showed up. God was there in full power and authority, above any others, pretending to be God.
Fire came down from Heaven directly from God.
Fire devoured the sacrifice, the wood, the altar, and even lapped up the water.
God comes through with fire.
God consumes with fire.
God holds nothing back.
In Hebrews 12, the Hebrew writer reminds us:
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12, NKJV)
The Hebrew writer was quoting Moses from way back in Deuteronomy 4. Moses was warning Israel not to forsake God.
23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.(Deuteronomy 4, NKJV)
God is an all-consuming fire.
Through an all consuming fire, God proved who He was without even a hint of a question.
Immediately those who were there around those altars acknowledged the power and authority that they saw demonstrated.
It’s certainly a warning for us as well — God’s not playing around. If we are not for God, He will consume us in the fires of everlasting death.
God comes with fire. God comes with an all-consuming fire. Everything laid bare. Everything made clear. Everything tested and tried.
Don’t think our choices, our decisions, our behaviors will go unnoticed.
Conclusion
This morning, I want us to begin thinking about this: what consumes us drives our loyalties, our lives, and ultimately our eternity.
Are we consumed in God’s love or God’s wrath?
About what are we passionate? Are there things in this world that get more of our attention and passion than God?
Do we cheer more for sporting events than we do for lost sinner who comes to find a relationship with God?
Do we spend more time championing what may very well be worthwhile causes more than we spend time letting God’s love flow through our lives to the broken world around us?
God was passionate about us. Since the beginning of time, God was working His plan through His people to right the wrong that happened in Eden.
And that work culminated in the cross. You see, God was so passionate about having a relationship with you and me that He held absolutely nothing back to save us.
As the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all.” Not part of our debt. Not part of the consequences for sin. Not even just the sins of those who were living at that time.
Jesus paid it all.
And because He gave it all, God expects our all.
God wants to be our passion.
From the time of the 10 Commandments, God makes it very clear that He is a jealous God. He will not tolerate us splitting allegiances.
God wants to consume us today.
God wants to be our passion, for we were His passion first.
