PUSH----Pray Until Something Happens
1/26/2003 1 Kings 18:16-45 Ephesians 3:14-21
The story is told of two little girls, Theresa age 9 and Lisa age 10. Lisa’s mom yelled upstairs, “ girls, I’m going down to the corner store to get some bread for lunch. I’ll be back in 15 minutes.” “Okay” they yelled in unison . They heard their mother slam the door and crank up the car. Theresa asked Lisa, “were you scared last night watching that horror movie.” Lisa said, “no not really, it was just a movie.” All of sudden the girls heard a noise downstairs as though something had been knocked over.
They both looked at each other with that, “what was that, look in their eyes.” They both thought back to the movie they had seen the previous night with a break in and the following murder. They got quiet. They could hear some footsteps down on the hardwood floor. The sound would move and then stop. Lisa put her hand to her lips to signal to Theresa to be quiet.
They could hear the footsteps coming up the stairs. Their door was partially cracked, but they couldn’t see out of it. Theresa could see the door was beginning to slowly open. Lisa said, “ quick, let’s pray.” Theresa said “No, Let’s PUSH and Pray!” as she jumped off the bed and pushed the door shut and locked it all in one desperate move.
Breathing Huh, uh huh uh. To the girls surprise, they heard a loud yell, “ark” coming from Tyler, their pet dog, whose nose they had just slammed into the door. They thought Tyler had left with their mother. They looked at each other and laughed.
When you find yourself in a tense situation, are you like Lisa, willing to pray about it or are you more like Theresa, in that you want to push and pray. Our theme for the year is PUSH for Christ in 2003. It literally means Pray Until Something Happens when you find yourself in need of something from God. But be prepared to PUSH against anything and everything that will hinder God’s plan for your life. PUSH means we have to equipped to do our part while praying until something happens.
In our Old Testament reading, we met the prophet Elijah. The country of Israel was going through some severe spiritual and economic times. The people were confused as to which God to worship. It had not rained in most of the country for almost three years.
Animals were dying, crops had failed, and people were becoming desperate. Now part of the problem was that God’s judgment was on the land. Elijah had preached a message of repentance to the people and to the leadership, but his message had gone ignored. The King and Queen at the time were famous for their ability to do evil in God’s sight. They were King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.
The king and queen blamed Elijah for the famine in the country. Ahab and Jezebel had introduced a new god to the people by the name of Baal. The people were sort of torn between serving the Living God who was called Yahweh and serving this new god called Baal.
Now Baal was looking pretty good in the eyes of the people. Baal was supposedly a fertility God who sent the rain, caused the crops to grow, provided food for his people, and sent lightening from heaven. Now this kind of a God looks real good to a nation that’s in the middle of a famine in desperate need of some rain.
Elijah had been preaching a message, “look if you do not turn from doing what you know is wrong to do, the things are going to get worse for you. Come back to God, and God will change your situation.”
The prophets of Baal were preaching, “look if you simply bring your gifts and honor Baal, Baal will bring you rain, your crops will grow, and life will be wonderful for you again.” Now the people did not want to totally turn their back on God because they knew what God had done for them in the past, but they didn’t want to let go of the things that Baal had to offer.
If we looked at our lives today real closely, how many of us could find a Baal in our lives. You see to have a Baal means, that instead of being prepared to PUSH for Christ in 2003, we already have a back up plan that does not include God.
Have you ever made a backup plan in your life that you would fall back on, just in case God does not show up when you think He ought to show up. “Well I could always lie about this. Or I still have her old phone number. Or I could quit and go back to doing that. Or I know I could get back in touch with them.” That backup plan is nothing more than a Baal god in your life.
Did you know that Jesus has a problem with us carrying around a backup plan when things get really tough for us? Jesus put it this way in Luke 9:62, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Back then before tractors, a person would hook up a plow to some oxen or donkeys. The person would have to plow the ground in a straight line for seeds to be planted.
If you took your eyes off the field to look back or around, your rows would be very crooked. Jesus is saying when we make that decision to follow Him in the kingdom of God, any sort of back up plan makes us unworthy to be called a servant for the kingdom. In order for us to truly PUSH for Christ in 2003, we have to let go of any and all Baals and keep our eyes focused on what God says to do.
Elijah challenged King Ahab to leave Baal and PUSH for the God of Israel. Ahab was not willing to let go of Baal. Elijah offered a challenge to Baal on Mt. Carmel. Mt. Carmel was regarded by the area people as the sacred dwelling place of Baal.
So Ahab was eager to have Mt. Carmel as the battle sight between the gods, because he felt it would give the prophets of Baal a distinct advantage. The prophets of Baal were called to Carmel along with the people of Israel. 450 of the prophets of Baal showed up. A lot of people surrounded the side of the mountain.
Elijah stood up and made a declaration. “Look, the time is up for all of you to keep going back and forward trying to straddle the fence. One day you try to serve God, but if you don’t like the way things are going, you try to change them by serving Baal.
Today it’s God’s way, tomorrow it’s your backup plan. Let’s quit this foolishness and go one way or the other. If God is God then serve God, but if Baal is god, then serve Baal.” We will each build an altar for a sacrifice. We will place a bull on it. Whichever god answers by fire, is the one you should serve.”
Now this sounded real good to the prophets of Baal. There were going to be 450 of them praying compared to just one, Elijah. Not only that, they had the home field advantage, because Mt. Carmel was believed to be Baal’s dwelling place. Plus, Baal was believed to be the god who sent the lightning. To top everything else off, they were to receive the kickoff without even having to toss the coin, because Elijah told them, they could go first. They knew once the first lightning bolt hit, this game would be over. They would have won the Super Bowl Of the Gods.
The referee blew the whistle at 9:00 that morning and the game was on. The prophets of Baal said short prayers and long prayers. They sang some songs, and did a dance, and did some more prayers. They gave testimonies of how the fire was about to fall, so get ready for it to happen. They prayed some more. The clock went from 9:00 to 10:00 to 11:00 to 12:00. There was nothing from Baal.
After three hours, Elijah’s sense of humor began to get the best of him. He started to talk some trash to them. He said, “maybe you guys are not yelling loud enough. Baal may be in deep thought about something. If you were a little louder you might get his attention.
Then he said, “you know maybe he’s busy.” ( The actual Hebrew mean, maybe he’s going to the bathroom to relieve himself.) Then he said, “then again he might have left this mountain and went on a trip. If he didn’t go anywhere, he could be sleeping.” Now Elijah had to be one tough dude to be talking trash to 450 guys all by himself.
The prophets Baal looked at him with disgust, and said, “man we’re just getting started with having church.” They started praying as loud as they could, they started cutting themselves to pour out their blood as an offering to Baal, they screamed and yelled as they did dances jumping up and down. They prophesied that any minute fire was going to come down and grant their request. They had faith in Baal, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Baal would answer. The clocked ticked, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, and finally 3:00. For six hours they had been PUSHing.
It is not enough to simply Pray Until Something Happens. You have to have faith in something that can truly make a difference or your efforts will be in vain. The prophets of Baal were sincere in their prayers, their dances, and their actions. But the sincerity of their faith could not make Baal a reality. Simply believing something is true, does not make it true. It only makes you sincerely wrong. But sincerely wrong is still wrong.
Sometimes people will say, you just have to believe in yourself. But our Bible takes us a step further and says our faith and our strength is not to be found simply in ourselves. In our New Testament reading, we find a prayer for us all in which it says in Ephes. 3:16 (NIV) “I pray that out of God’s glorious riches God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” It’s not that we have this secret source within us, but rather the power of God through His Spirit can give us the strength to PUSH to do what we have to do.
The only reason Baal did not answer is that Baal did not exist. The backup plans we have, are not acts of God. They are just the little petty thoughts in our minds to get something God has said no to for the time being.
At 3:00, which was the time the people should have been offering a sacrifice to the true God, it was Elijah’s turn. Now there was an old altar there on the Mount Carmel, where somebody use to worship the true God. Elijah told the people to come now over to him. He began gathering these old stones that had been part of an altar.
God is calling us to look in our lives and see what we stones we threw away in our walk with him over the years. Did we stop coming to church? Did we give up Bible Study? Did we quit praying? Did we let go of giving and volunteering to serve? Did we decide, we no longer needed the protections we had set up to keep us from temptation?
We may need to start gathering those things again in our lives before we set out to PUSH for Christ in 2003. You see the thing God desires most from us in 2003, is not some great work we are going to go out and do in the name of Jesus. God’s greatest desire for us is to be rooted and grounded in a relationship with him.
The prayer in Ephesians is centered on getting to know God. Ephes. 3:17-19 (NIV) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. When we truly understand how much God loves us, we recognize his commands are for our own good and serve our best interests. One sin that we thought would help us get we wanted can change our lives for the worse for a very very long time.
Elijah had not called the people over to simply see a great miracle. He called them in order to bring them back into a relationship with God. Well Elijah built his altar. It wasn’t as nice and elaborate as the one Baal had but that was okay. After putting the sacrifice on it, before the prophets of Baal could start talking trash to him, he told the people, make sure the wood is good and wet before the fire comes down.
They poured four large jars of water on the altar. Elijah said, “look just so nobody can say I had a trick up my sleeve, pour four more barrels of water on it.” They did and Elijah said, “I don’t want there to be any shadow of a doubt, what happened, pour water on it one more time.
By this time the water was running over the sides and spilling off the altar. Everything was as wet as could be. Elijah stepped forward in front of everybody. The service began with the opening prayer. Elijah prayed, 1 Kings 18:36-37 (NIV) "O LORD, 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.
37Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." The prayer had sixty words in it. Even if you pray it with long pauses in between, you can still do it in under 30 seconds. Elisha Prayed Until Something Happened, and it happened in less than 30 seconds.
Fire fell down from heaven, and took the offering, the wood, the water, the soil and the stones. It was as if a laser beam had hit it and evaporated everything. Many of the people made a decision on the spot, that God was God and that Baal had been nothing more than a false back up plan which could not deliver when push came to shove. The prophets of Baal were wiped out that day.
But King Ahab was still not fully convinced. Some people will not believe no matter what God does. To try to help him along in his belief. Elijah told him, “Look we’ve been up on this mountain for over six hours. Go down to your camp and eat, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” Ahab looked up and there was not a cloud in the sky. He probably gave Elijah one of those looks where he wanted to slap him upside the head and left.
Now Elijah had told the King, he heard the sound of a major thunderstom so he went back up the mountain all the way to the top to begin Praying Until Something Happen in the form of a thunderstorm. He knew that the people would be expecting the rain. He bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees and started praying. He told his servant “go and look toward the sea, and tell me how big are the clouds that are about to roll in.”
His servant came back, “Brother Elijah, the sun is just as bright as it ever was.” Now before Elijah said a 30 second prayer, and bingo God came through. He prayed a little longer the second time, and sent his servant back again. Servant came back on the second time and said, “Not a thing has changed. There’s not a cloud in the sky.” Well it’s a good thing the prophets of Baal were no longer around or they might have done some trash talking of their own.
Elijah bent over and cried out in prayer a third time. He knew that the Lord had heard him and that he had his break through. He told his servant, “Go and check it out now.” His servant went and came back, “No, No it still has not changed.”
Now God has put back to back events in Elijah’s life which indicate sometimes, we have to PUSH for longer periods of time. The first time on Carmel, it was just a matter of obeying God and fire fell down instantly from heaven. But now we have this same Elijah, on the same mountain, being just as obedient, but things are not going the way he had imagined.
All of us need to have something we want from God in 2003. Only you and God knows what is the true desire of your heart. What’s going to happen when you fail to receive it after the first shot. Will you give up and quit? Will you quit after the second setback? Will you quit after the third? Let me challenge to PUSH for that goal.
Jesus had wanted to fulfill God’s plan for His life. But he knew the pain, the agony and the horror of being crucified, but what was even worse was having to go to the fires of hell to pay the penalty for our sins and be separated from God the Father. He wanted to do it, but He did not have the strength to do it inside of Himself.
He went into the garden of Gethsemane and prayed, “Father I want to do your will, but if it is possible for people to be saved some other way, then let this cup pass from me and let’s do it the other way.” Jesus got off his knees after this prayer only to find he did not have the energy yet to go through it all. So he prayed it again. Got up again and found he still did not have it.
So he went back down again a third time. It was in this third time of PUSHing that he received his strength because he told the disciples,” the hour is near and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, rise let us go. Here comes my betrayer. It was in that third trip that Jesus was able to Pray Until Something Happened.
My friends we are tempted to give up to soon. We need to know the God we serve. We find in Ephes. 3:20 (NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
We find first that God is able to do something. We find that God is able to do something immeasurable. We find that God is able to do something more immeasurable than we ask. We find God is able to do something more immeasurable than we ask or even imagine. We find that God is able to do something more immeasurable than we ask or imagine because God’s power is at work in us. The same God that sent Jesus out triumphantly to face the most difficult of circumstances, is the one who is ready to equip us to PUSH for Christ in 2003. My friends are we guilty of expecting too little of God in our lives or in our church.
Elijah did not pray just three times, not four times, not five time, not six, but it was on the seventh meeting with God that his servant came back with a little encouragement. He said, “Well Elijah, I didn’t see much, but I did see a tiny little cloud, about the size of a man’s hand coming out of the sea.” My friends it was something small, but Elijah knew he had prayed until something happened.
He told his servant, go tell the king to get his coat and his umbrella and head for home because the storm is on its way. There was still not a cloud in the sky, but Elijah knew he had a word from the Lord. The king packed up his chariots and raced home for the city of Jezreel which was about 25 miles away.
The power of God then came upon Elijah and Elijah became the fastest human being the world had ever known. The brother put his coat in his belt and ran 25 miles and got to Jezreel before the king who was being pulled by chariots of horses. Those of you who want to be runners, ask God to put a little of the speed of Elijah upon you after your prayer time with him.
Praying until something happens does not mean sitting back and doing nothing. Like Theresa we need to jump up and push the door. Like Elijah we need to be face the possible wrath and ridicule of others. We know that sometimes God answers prayers instantly, but other times our prayers will take much longer. Like Jesus even when the struggle at times seems overwhelming and the way out easy, we must commit ourselves to following through on God’s will for our lives. PUSH means saying no to those backup plans in our lives
It all has to begin with a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, no matter what.
K. PUSH---Not Simply Sitting Back & Waiting
1. Theresa—Be Ready To Jump Into Action
2. Elijah—Be Courageous To Face Others
3. Know The Time Variations
4. Jesus—Easy Way Out, But Don’t Take It
5. Let Go Of The Backup Plans
6. Follow Jesus No Matter What.
Congratulations To Our New Elders & Deacons
Elders Kacie Armstrong & Terri Johnson
Deacons Sam Thornton & Trina Smith
No Marriage Sensation Today
See You Wednesday At Life-Sharing & Pioneers
Sermon Outline-Pastor Rick 1/26/2003
PUSH--Pray Until Something Happens
A. What Do You Do In An Emergency
1. A Mother, Theresa 9, Lisa 10
2. A Trip To The Store Turns Into Danger
3. The Horror Movie, The Noise, Downstairs
4. The Murder, The Door, The Call To Pray
5. Theresa’s Decision To Act Quickly
6. Are You Like Theresa Or Lisa
B. Theme—PUSH For Christ In 2003
1. Be Equipped To Pray For & Push Against
C. Elijah The Prophet & Country Israel
1. Severe Economic & Spiritual Times, Drought
2. Animals Dying, Crops Failing
3. Message Of Repentance Ignored
4. King Ahab & Queen Jezebel—Wicked #1&2
D. Baal—The New God In Town
1. Yahweh—The True & Living God
2. Baal—Rain, Crops, Lightning, Food
3. Elijah-Stop & Do Right, Come Back To God
4. Baal Prophet—Give & Simply Be Blessed
5. Where Is Our Baal Of Today
6. The Backup Plan—Jesus Has A Problem With It
Luke 9:62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
7. The Plow, The Ox, The Straight Paths
8. To Push In 2003 Baal Must Be Let Go
E. Elijah Challenges King Ahab & Baal’s Boys
1. Mt. Carmel—The Mountain Of Choice
2. 450 To 1 Odds
3. Elijah Issues Challenge To Choose One Way
4. Build An Altar—Let God Answer By Fire
5. Home Field Advantage/Lightning/Won Toss
6. Game Started At 9—Baal Prophets Go At It
7. 10, 11, 12, But Nothing From Baal
8. Elijah & The Trash Talking
9. Baal Prophets Go Into Overtime—What A Mess
10. The Clock 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3—6hr Pushing
F. You Need Something Besides PUSH
1. Your Faith Must Be Solidly Rooted In God
2. Believing Does Not Make It So Or True
3. Sincere—But Sincerely Wrong
4. Not Just Faith In Yourself
Ephes. 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
5. Don’t Rely On Baal For A Reason
G. At 3:00 Elijah Received The Ball
1. The Call To The People –Rebuilding Altar
2. Collect Some Cast Away Stones
3. God’s Desire Is For Relationship Not Miracles
Ephes. 3:17-19 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
4. Elijah’s Altar Not The Best But It Would Do
5. Three Times Dunking It In Water
6. Water Was Over It All
1 Kings 18:36-37 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, 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. 37Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
7. The Fire Came Down With 30 Seconds
8. A Laser Took It All Away
9. Baal’s Prophets Removed
H. King Ahab Is Still Not Fully Convinced
1. Go & Eat—I Hear A Thunderstorm Coming
2. To The Top Of Carmel To Pray For Rain
3. There Was PUSH But No Action
4. Servant Go Check Again—Sorry Nothing
5. Third Prayer—Third Time Result- Same
I. God Is Not Obligated To Do Everything The Same
1. No Set Formula’s---Same Steps Don’t Guarantee
2. What’s Your Desire In 2003
3. How Many Rejections Before Giving Up
4. How Long To PUSH
5. Jesus Knew The Pain & Agony Of PUSH
6. The Third Time He Found His Answer
7. The Temptation To Give Up To Soon
Ephes. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
8. God Is Able To Do More
9. Guilty Of Expecting To Little From God
J. Elijah—It Was Not 3 Times
1. The Seventh Time—I See A Little Cloud
2. Little Can Be A Great Confirmation
3. The Storm Is On It’s Way
4. Elijah Becomes The Fastest Human Ever
5. The Man Who Outran Chariots & Horses
