Stand up for the right thing a make sure you finish

Armistice Day

11:00 - 2 minutes Silence.

Armistice prayer

God of time and history;

of present and of future

As we mark a century since the war it was said would end all wars

we turn to you for guidance and support.

Help us, in our human frailty, to be the people you would have us be.

May we respond to human need through loving service,

bursting through the walls of our institutions

to reach out with unconditional love.

Kindle your love within us

that we may be your light in the world

and channels of your peace.

3

God of grace and mercy,

prompt us daily to acts of kindness,

that even through our lives we may reflect

your love for all humanity.

Kindle your love within us

that we may be your light in the world

and channels of your peace.

4

God of all compassion,

may we always be alert to the needs of others

and be ready and willing to respond;

to treat all others as we ourselves would wish to be treated.

Kindle your love within us

that we may be your light in the world

and channels of your peace.

5

God of peace

make us restless until war and conflicts cease

and the long envisaged unity among the nations is made real.

May we honour the millions killed in war by

being your active and committed peace-makers now

in our country, communities and homes.

Kindle your love within us

that we may be your light in the world

and channels of your peace.

Peace in our world

Peace in our hearts

Peace in our homes

The Peace of God

Lest we forget.

The Battle on mount Carmel

Last week we heard about Elijah and how he was a prophet of God called to declare to the people of God that they needed to turn from the ways they were living back to God. We heard how He had pronounced a drought over the land a drought that was to last for the best part of three and a half years.

We heard how during this time God had provided for him and how that provision had moved from being just for him, to blessing a widow and her family. As part of this I noted that this was the begging of the restoration of the Nation - That is God’s pattern start with one, then a few, then a nation.

Stand up for what is right.

In the land at the time the biggest issue was that the king had encouraged (even commanded) the people to do the wrong thing. The nation had stopped worshipping Yahweh the God the God of Israel (the living God) and had started worship Baal. At that time Ahab was king. to set the scene this is how the bible describes Ahab.

1 Kings 16:31–33 NIV

31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 16

16:31 If it wasn’t enough that Ahab goes beyond Jeroboam’s sins (involving the golden calves and the high places; 12:28–33) and draws Israel into a political and religious relationship with the Sidonians, who worshiped Baal, the Canaanite storm god.

the Sidonians Refers to the people of Sidon, a major Canaanite and Phoenician city-state on the Mediterranean coast.

Not the best CV and Elijah went to confront him. You see Elijah was going to do the right thing,

75 years ago, three young adults placed their heads beneath a guillotine and prepared to die. Their crime? Speaking out against the Nazis with graffiti and hand-printed pamphlets. Their names? Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst. It was a violent end to a peaceful student movement known as the White Rose—one that used the power of language to resist the horrors of the Nazi regime. Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-secret-student-group-stood-up-nazis-180962250/#0W3HWSW8tIOexRYG.99

I guess like me you have not heard of them before this Armistice Day. You see doing the right thing is often not accompanied by fame, it is often the thing that averts something that will be recorded in history. Or it is the thing that seemingly has no effect today but has an effect of somebody else's tomorrow causing them to continue doing the right thing. This is why we as parents don’t run across the road with our kids when the red man is showing - we wait. this is why we treat people with dignity even if we won’t see them again.

Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do but someone you raise - Andy Stanley

Sophie, Hans and Christoph new that their actions were small in the face fof the Nazi regime. They faced the ultimate penalty but they did the right thing! - we are called to stand up for what is right

Isaiah 58:1 ESV

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.

In Elijah’s day the biggest problem was the worship of Baal - what are the things that are hurting our nation, our world today?

Poverty - 630 Billion people are in extreme poverty today. - Poverty clock http://www.worldpoverty.io

Slavery - 40.3 Million in modern slavery - more than in William Wilberforce’s time

Sexual immorality and confusion - Who to have sex with, when to have sex, what sex am I

A loss of religious freedoms and freedoms of speech - dressed up as protection agains Hate Crime.

A post truth mentality - I decide what’s true - decide fire doesn’t burn and stick you hand in one see how far that gets you.

or is it lack of community. Lack of respect, missing responsibilities , a selfish attitude- What are the things we need to stand against and what are we standing for?

Hope in the face of impossible odds.

Elijah met king Ahab

1 Kings 18:16–20 NIV

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 “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.

So here we are on mount Carmel on one side we have Ahab the king, 450 prophets of Baal, the kings entourage, Kings don’t tend to go far without them.

Now I don’t know about you but if I was to pick a fight I would like the odds to be better than that.

And they were you see Elijah had someone on his side that the others didn’t - God

It is easy to say God’s on our side everything is going to turn out OK but it is another thing to trust it.

One of the corner stones of trust is credibility / authenticity - following through on your word.

God had proved through his provision to Elijah that his word was to be trusted. You know we serve an amazing God. When God speaks a promise he can’t break it - it is impossible He does not need to prove his word to us. Yet, God know us and chooses to reveal his nature to us, time after time.

God did this with Eliajah, he has done it with me, I know he has done it with you.

God was encouraging Elijah in this action - not only because God had directed Elijah to do this but because he had supported him -

I am not just talking about the ravens feeding him or the widows never ending supply of flour and oil as miraculous as they were.

Elijah was tased with taking on the biggest issue of the time - the worship of Baal - the abandonment of Yahweh. Now Baal was Chief of the Canaanite gods. The Canaanite storm god and bringer of rain.

Yet it had not rained for over three years…

1 Kings 18:22–24 NIV

22 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.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

Paraphrase this ....

1 Kings 18:25–29 The Message

25 Elijah told the Baal prophets, “Choose your ox and prepare it. You go first, you’re the majority. Then pray to your god, but don’t light the fire.” 26 So they took the ox he had given them, prepared it for the altar, then prayed to Baal. They prayed all morning long, “O Baal, answer us!” But nothing happened—not so much as a whisper of breeze. Desperate, they jumped and stomped on the altar they had made. 27 By noon, Elijah had started making fun of them, taunting, “Call a little louder—he is a god, after all. Maybe he’s off meditating somewhere or other, or maybe he’s gotten involved in a project, or maybe he’s on vacation. You don’t suppose he’s overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?” 28 They prayed louder and louder, cutting themselves with swords and knives—a ritual common to them—until they were covered with blood. 29 This went on until well past noon. They used every religious trick and strategy they knew to make something happen on the altar, but nothing happened—not so much as a whisper, not a flicker of response.

This should have been easy for Baal - he is the god of storm - one lighting bolt and whoosh - burning

But nothing - we see the world conned into placing their hope in things that will not work.

Paraphrase

1 Kings 18:30–35 The Message

30 Then Elijah told the people, “Enough of that—it’s my turn. Gather around.” And they gathered. He then put the altar back together for by now it was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob, the same Jacob to whom God had said, “From now on your name is Israel.” 32 He built the stones into the altar in honor of God. Then Elijah dug a fairly wide trench around the altar. 33 He laid firewood on the altar, cut up the ox, put it on the wood, and said, “Fill four buckets with water and drench both the ox and the firewood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it again,” and they did it. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” 35 and they did it a third time. The altar was drenched and the trench was filled with water.

Talk about making it hard - don’t we do that though don’t we have a habit of digging the hole we are in deeper before we ask for help, before we turn to God.

1 Kings 18:36–38 The Message

36 When it was time for the sacrifice to be offered, Elijah the prophet came up and prayed, “O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known right now that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I’m doing what I’m doing under your orders. 37 Answer me, God; O answer me and reveal to this people that you are God, the true God, and that you are giving these people another chance at repentance.” 38 Immediately the fire of God fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench.

No shouting - no special words - no prayer dance - no cutting (so glad about that one & the not having to prayer dance come to think of it) - Elijah stepped forwards and prayed. - We could read this as an imposing / commanding prayer - read loud

but that was not Elijah - he was a pessimist, he was scared - it may have been more like this.

read it confident but quiet

I take real comfort in this - When we pray we don’t need to have magic words, it doesn’t matter if we say Lord, Father, Jesus, God, or end with ‘in Jesus Name’ it doesn’t matter if we shout it, mutter it, trip up over our words. The power is not in the prayer it is in the one we pray to.

God wins through

1 Kings 18:38–39 NIV

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. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

Funny how they all changed their allegiance when they saw this supernatural demonstration of the power of the Living God.

You know

No one challenges theology when they are receiving a miracle.

Few will challenge it when they witness a miracle

Some will challenge your beliefs when they hear about a miracle.

But what is there to believe when there is no evidence?

Jesus knew this ...

John 4:48 NIV

48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

We need to tell of the miraculous both the big and the small

Acts 14:3 NIV

3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

We need the Holy Spirit to be present with us in power. we are in need of miracles

prophesy

words of knowledge

healings

A bit of fire from heaven. Signs and Wonders.

Finish what you started.

You may think that that is a good end to the story

God is shown to be God, the people have turned away from a false god to the One True God. - A good end yes?

It was not finished though, stories are rarely finished when the reader is satisfied, the Author dictates the end, and the end of this story is one of the bits of the bible we like to skip over..

1 Kings 18:40–41 NIV

40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. 41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”

This was done in accordance with the law in Deuteronomy.

As part of my role at work we create software - and a common question that I ask of the team is when will it be done? To which I normally get an answer like “it will be done by Friday”.

My response is normally something like this? “is that done? done - done? or done -done- done?

What do I mean by that? Well when a developer says it is done they mean the code is written

When Dev Ops tell me it is done - they mean that it is written, tested, bugs squashed, retested, and ready to roll out to live.

When I ask a some one from Quality Assurance and they say done they mean it is written, tested, bugs squashed, retested, ready to roll out to live, the help documents or manual are written, they support desk has been briefed and we have notified customers things are changing.

If we launch software that is not done- done-done it hurts, we have to roll back (go backwards)

When we think things are done, they may not be done in the eyes are of the Author of our lives.

If we do not complete thing we are in danger of stopping after winning the battle but we will soon be over taken. Elijah needed to finish the task - firstly by ridding the place of the evil of the past - the prophets but also by seeing the rain come. the story had to be done-done-done

We see this in the Church people are touched by God, they may even have received a miracle or come to accept Christ. but that is where they stop. They are done, but not done-done-done. They standstill at best - not being Transfomed in Christ, at worst they go backwards and fall away.

The bible makes it clear that to some degree we are never Done-done-done

2 corinthians says

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

we are called to keep being transformed - when we stop we go backwards we undo the work that God has achieved in us.

Transformation is complete when God calls time not when we are satisfied with the results.

We worship a God the loves us, and want’s us to succeed in this adventure that is life with God.

The end of 1 kings 19 tells us that Elijah went and prayed for rain and it didn’t come.

he prayed again and it didn’t come, this happened six times but Elijah understood that the promises of God are certain. So he prayed again and there on the horizon was a cloud the size of a man’s fist. - The sky grew black and heavy rain came. The promise of God was fulfilled.

Conclude

As I look around I am pretty convinced that some of you need to hear again the promises that God has for you in your own lives. Some of you are desperate for a miracle or sign from God - we shouldn’t test God, we should have faith but we have a generous God, who has given us himself as the Holy Spirit as guide, messenger, comforter and if that is you I believe that this week God will do something amazing.

I had the privilege of being with someone this week seeking work, they were holding on to a promise from God, by the time they left they had two job offers, one to meet their needs and another that will meet both their needs and their desire

I have a real feeling that God wants to do the same here in this church, in this community.

Some of us think we are Done, we don’t believe that God can take us on further or we are comfortable with where we are - well, God wants you to take the next step. There is a season coming that will see some changes in people that you will not expect - God is going to do some transforming.

who wants to see something new happen?

who want to see lives transformed? who wants to see transformation in your own lives?

You may have been sitting on a promise from God, a calling and you may well have poured buckets of water on it. time and time again. I am too busy, it might upset someone, I can’t commit, I can’t do it. I tell you today that as surely as when Elijah prayed and the altar burst into flame there is a season coming that will see the promises and callings that God has put on you burst into flame for some it will be a kindling but a flame no less for others it will be an explosion.

Can we pray?

Blessing after last song

God grant to the living grace,

to the departed rest,

to the Church, the Queen, the

Commonwealth [or to the Church, the State]

and all people,

unity, peace and concord,

and to us and all God’s servants,

life everlasting.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all

and remain with you always.

Amen