Reconnect With God: HE REIGNS
1 Kings 18
Introduction
This month we will be focused on four iconic stories in the Bible, each one pointing us to reconnect with God when we have wandered away. Each one of these stories has a prophet or king at center. Each one an element or image that helps us understand. Each one calls back to God and invites us to reconnect. Today’s image is FIRE and the message is He Reigns.
The setting of this familiar story relates to a drought! It has not rained for three years (18:2 “the famine was severe”). It was a time of conflict and killing.
-Jezebel is killing the prophets of the Lord (18:4) Her father was a king who won his crown by murder. He was a priest of one of the Baal idols of that day. She made Baal worship predominant in Israel. Ruthless, urged Ahab to kill Naboth, steal his land.
-Obadiah, Ahab’s palace administrator and a believer, has hidden away 100 prophets of God and supplied them with food and water) (18:4) Ahab and Obadiah are searching for grass to keep their
livestock alive.
-During that search Obadiah meets Elijah, who requests an audience with King Ahab (a frightening request for Obadiah, but he does comply).
It is a time of … Conflict, Suffering, Compromise. God’s people are heavily influenced by the Baal culture and are falling away from following the God they know. It is also a time of Challenge - a challenging question that calls for a decision - to reconnect with God or not!
In this time of challenge - God uses FIRE to demonstrate his power and supremacy through Elijah. He Reigns!
1. FOCUS: HOW LONG WILL WE WAVER? (1 Kings 18:17-21 )
1 Kings 18:17-21
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
Complex times can lead to divided loyalties. It was true in Israel’s time - they were compromised over and over by the culture that surrounded and influenced them. In the OT there are about 89 references to Baal, just one of the gods the Canaanites worshiped. Baal himself is the storm and fertility god - which gives an interesting perspective to what happened next.
Many things cause us to waver in our commitment.
-Temptation - from within
- Pressure - from without
- Discouragement - health, finances, relationships
- Slow progress in our spiritual life
- Difficult people
- Prayer - waiting on God to act
All of these can cause us to waver - to be uncertain - to fall into sin’s traps - and we have all been there. Elijah urges them to make a choice … But the people said nothing. So Elijah engages in a fight against the false god Baal. (1 Kings 18:22-24)
1 Kings 18:22-24
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
2. IGNITE Your Fight for Faith (1 Kings 18:25-38)
Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal (18:25-29 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.)
When Elijah gathers the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashram to Mount Carmel for a showdown of faith, he is up against a powerful human enemy.
Elijah calls upon God to answer (18:30-38 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.)
The fight to connect with God here is so vivid. It involves:
-Belief that God hears and acts upon our prayers.
-Willingness to test God and take Him at his word.
-Focus on God, not on our own desired outcomes.
3. RETURN TO THE KING (1 Kings 18:39)
“All the people saw it happen and fell on their faces in awed worship, exclaiming, “God is the true God! God is the true God!” (MSG)
Return in Praise (2 Thessalonians 1:12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”)
Return in Prayer. God is not at our command, but we are at His! He responds mightily to our humble prayers.
-James 4:10 "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
-1 Peter 5:6 “… clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."
-Isaiah 66:2 … 'This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.’"
Return with Perseverance - stay with God no matter what!
4. EXPECT GOD TO ANSWER (1 Kings 18:41-46)
Elijah is boldly speaking here - after 3 years of drought!
1 Kings 18:41-43 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
Go look - seven times he sent his servant.
Have you ever stopped expecting God after six times!
1 Kings 18:44-46 44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Three items quickly about prayer:
-God Listens. 1 Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
-God answers. James 5:17-18 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
-God Empowers. Ephesians 3:16 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being"
Conclusion
Many times we find our faith wavering, we struggle to reconnect to God.
HE REIGNS… SO
-Focus your attention on the King
-Ignite the Fight for Faith
-Return to the King
-Expect God to answer!
F.I.R.E.!
When the people of God saw the power of God they bowed down and cried out The Lord – he is God! Yes, the Lord is God! This is our desire today - that we would reject the idols crowding God out of our hearts and turn to Him alone. How long will we waver between two opinions? Two opinions …
the battle for the highest place in our hearts is ongoing.
Mark 9:2-7 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
“This is my beloved Son; listen to him!”
Are we ready today to have a decisive faith… to decide now to follow Jesus Christ? Pray for awakening to the need to do this.
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Discussion Questions
1. What do you learn about Elijah from this episode of his life? What stands out about him as you think about his challenge on Mount Carmel?
2. Obadiah is in the background of this story. What works of faith do we see Obadiah doing? Why is he afraid when Elijah requests an audience with Ahab? What can Obadiah’s faithfulness in a hostile
environment teach us?
3. When Ahab meets Elijah, what does he call him (1 Kings 18:16)? What do you think he meant by that? What insight does that offer when we consider how Christians operate in a hostile culture?
4. What is Elijah’s challenge to the people of Israel (v 20-21)? What does their failure to answer indicate? Why is this an important / striking question for today?
5. In what ways do people these days sit on the fence in regard to their following God?
6. Why do you think Elijah have to pray so long and hard for rain to return? (1 Kings 18:42-45) What are we learning about prayer in this?
7. Can you think of some examples in the Bible of times when God used fire to demonstrate his power? Why do you think God chose to reveal Himself this way?
8. What else did you want to talk about?
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Resources
Baalism
https://bible.org/article/baalism-canaanite-religion-and-its-relation-selected-old-testament-texts
Nelson, Richard. Interpretation: First and Second King. John Knox Press, 1987
Old Testament Characters: A LifeGuide Bible Study by Peter Scazzero (IVPress)
Whitworth, Michael. How to Lose a Kingdom in 400 Years. Start2Finish, 2017.
