Tell the person next to you, “It’s no coincidence… that you are here.” “God brought you here!” We need to understand that the only reason people talk about God, or come to church, is because God draws them. That is why we need to be prepared.
Bob called his wife from work in the middle of the afternoon. “I’m able to get two tickets fro the show we wanted to see. It’s playing now. Do you want to see it?” “Oh, yes!” she answered excitedly. “I’ll get ready right away.” “Do that.” Bob said, “the tickets are for tomorrow night.” We need to be ready, for tomorrow, may be the day God brings folks here!
20So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
30Then Elijah said to all the people “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. 36And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37“Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” 38Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
Physical Preparations-
Are we dancing or doing? Notice the false prophets were busy dancing. Elijah was busy doing. What is the difference? The false prophets were dancing for a false god. They were heavily involved with activity. Understand the fleshly activity that I am talking about. First, the crowd motivated them. Everyone was on the false prophets side! However, God wasn’t. So when they did not achieve the desired outcome, they began to do greater things. I am not talking about dancing here. Dancing is not necessarily wrong. David danced. I am talking about falling into the trap of the flesh. Their physical activity no longer kept the crowd’s interest, so they began cutting themselves, and yelling louder. What ever it took to maintain the crowd. However, there came a time when even that became boring. The crowd was looking for lightening, not blood. They wanted to hear from God, not man. Man’s efforts are never good enough. They may attract at first, but in the long run, people lose interest!
Elijah was busy doing. “Be doers of the word.” He was building up the altar of God during this time. Elijah had to physically repair the altar all by himself. He had to make physical preparations for the altar to be prepared. There were 12 stones, the bull had to be physically cut, and a trench was dug. He did not have a crowd to entertain. He did not have time to entertain. He had God’s business to perform! His self-esteem wasn’t based on the crowd; his ministry concept was not focused on tickling their ears. He was doing what God had commanded!
One application is that there are churches that are active in circus type activity. They will draw a big crowd for a while, but because of their teachings, or lack there of, sooner or later people will lose interest. What we need to do is not worry about them. Let God take care of that. We need to be willing to stand-alone for a while, and be content with doing God’s work by ourselves. Am I saying to close everyone out? No! They choose when to come. Elijah offered an invitation. We will continue to offer our invitation as well. I believe that people will see that we are genuine and because of Christ in us will want to come and join our work. Hear this, Elijah didn’t excuse himself when no one followed. He didn’t quit. He continued to do God’s work. He was working while they were dancing! Folks, do you think we need to be any different? We need to be working while others are dancing! We need to continue to gather every Sunday and ask, “Whose side are you on?” And when no one seems to pay us any attention we should continue about God’s business. Let’s be honest, do you think that we could handle 1000 new believers? 500? 300? 75? Do you think we could be responsible for 5? Truthfully, it would be awesome to experience, but we are not ready for that number yet. Elijah had no one, so he prepared physically for everyone! We need to prepare physically. Rainer’s book on the unchurched; tells about how that being committed to exceptionallism had kingdom results. People brought their kids etc. got saved!
How do we do this? One way is creating a building fund. It will enable us to paint inside and outside, get new carpet, renovate, provides money for future renovations, new sign, new letters for the sign, new stove or fridge for CASTS, new tapes and tape recorders, we need to divide our nursery in two and make a children’s church, etc. Listen folks, we are already doing a lot of the work. We are not there yet, but we are doing some things! Now we need to prepare for some financial arrangements to see that they are not only done, but done with the best we can offer, and that they will continue in the near future!
Tell about plan.
Spiritual Sacrifices-
Romans 3 tells us about spiritual sacrifice. Go back and study it. “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who
understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” This leads me to ask, “Are we repairing, or reprimanding?” Elijah repaired! We need to repair broken relationships, and broken lives. Yes there will be a sacrifice. It may be your pride, your ego, or just letting go of the pain that life has caused you.
Listen to what he is saying. Don’t brag because you come to church, pray, or do God’s work. Don’t think better of yourself because you sacrifice, or obey God. Don’t you see? The only reason you do good/right is because of the grace of God! The bible clearly says, “There are NONE righteous, NONE who understands, NONE who seeks God!” That means you! That means me! The sermons I have are only because the grace of God. They are given by Him! Not by my intelligence or ability! The opposite side of the coin is that we should recognize when we are not feeling close to God. That isn’t God drawing us away, that is our flesh! We should respond with repentance, and ask the Holy Spirit to return us to intimate fellowship with God!
We no longer need a bull or cow. Christ has provided the only sacrifice we need for heaven! However, God does expect us to live sacrificially. To say any different would contrast the Bible and at best water down the meaning of Christianity! So we sacrifice time and pray more, study more. We sacrifice money and spend it on others. We sacrifice our sleep or food as a fast, to become closer with God.
The more important the sacrifice is to us, the closer to God we become. The closer to God we are, the more He uses us, and the more people He adds to our body to minister to. The more ministries we do, the more people He adds to help us to do it.
Listen to Elijah’s sacrifice. Yes he sacrificed a bull, which cost him money. Yes he sacrificed the water, which probably cost him more than the bull. Remember they were in a 31/2-year drought! If God didn’t answer, at best he would have sacrificed his reputation, and worst his life! With that said, listen to his prayer, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37“Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” His first part of his prayer is for the children to recognize God in him. Isn’t that what we want? We need for God to indwell in our lives to the point where others, yes the lost, recognize God in us! Second, he knew that God was God, but he had a deep desire for others to know Him as well. And not just to know that God is God, but that God is a personal God who speaks to you. “, Let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.”
Folks, there it is. Until we get a heart for the lost, everything we do is like a clanging symbol! We should wake every morning with someone on our hearts; before we go to bed we should be praying for a lost individual. Our prayer should be so specific, we should pray, “God, let them see you in me, and “ let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.” When Elijah had made the preparations, and sacrifices, what did God do? He answered!
There is a part in here that I have saved until the last. Notice that Elijah told them to fill four water pots and to pour them on the sacrifice 3 times. Let me share with you what God revealed to my heart. All to often we are in Elijah’s position. Remember, Elijah wanted fire. What is the adversary of fire? Water. What do you use to extinguish fire? Water! The last thing he should have wanted was water on his sacrifice! Right? Wrong! The people had been pouring water on God’s work for years. This is an example of what God is going to do in spite of the people’s efforts!
Christians are working God’s plan by ourselves. Just as we get things going in the right direction, someone pours water on our work. It comes in the form of a discouraging word, (splash, there is one bucket). It comes in the form of an all out attack on you or your family, (splash, splash, splash). It comes in the form of a friend or family member stabbing you in the back, (splash, splash,). Someone attacks your ministry, (splash, splash).
“38Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” Think of this for just a moment. How hot did the fire need to be to ignite the wood? Does wood just automatically catch fire when you throw a match to it? No. Has anyone when they are grilling used the liquid fuel for the coals and have the fire still go out? Now just add a cup of water to either scenario. How difficult is it to start a campfire with dew on the ground? Listen folks, Elijah had four buckets poured on the sacrifice three times. It was flooded. There was standing water up to his ankles! But the Lord consumed and licked up everything! It was HOT!
We need to be praying for water to be poured on us! Why? The wetter we are, the hotter God gets! His strength is made perfect in our weakness! The next time someone pours cold water on you, PRAISE GOD! He will respond with His hot fire from the Holy Spirit! And the important thing here is that others will worship God because of what He has done through you. “39Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
You have had time for it to sink in. How many of you are ready to commit to preparing our church. Would you commit today?
PREPARING FOR PEOPLE. 1 Kings 18:20-22; 30-39
I. Physical _________________________.
A. Are we __________________ or ____________________?
II. Spiritual _________________________.
A. Are we ____________________ or ___________________?
