Elijah at Mt. Carmel

I love a mountaintop experience, and if you’ve ever been on the mountaintop, then you do too! But these experiences are not without their challenges. Every time we see a mountaintop in the Bible we see a challenge associated with them. God does not go around handing these experiences out! Those of His children who spend time with Him on the mountain spend their fair share of time in the valley as well.

Take Elijah for instance. This man of God stood up to the wicked Ahab, looked this godless king in the eye and said, “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” God honored the words of Elijah and for three years there was not a drop of water on the earth. Then God speaks to His servant again and sends him back to Ahab to tell him it is going to rain.

Don’t think for a minute that Elijah took this lightly! Don’t think for a minute, that this was an easy task! This was a challenge! Then we come to 1 Kings 18. Here stands Elijah, alone again before the king, before the nation, before the prophets of Baal, all alone. Remember these words:

“One with God is a majority.” - Martin Luther

Friends, this is not some isolated incident from history. This is not something that happened a few thousand years ago and is no longer pertinent to our generation today.

Listen to me, we are Elijah and, church, the time has come for us to stand up!

Will you stand up today?

I want to share with you three times when you need to stand up:

When the world sees things backwards vv. 17-18

Isaiah 5:20 KJV 1900

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

King Ahab had it backward and needed to be straightened out!

He looked at the man of God and said - “Hey buddy, you’re the problem, you’re the one upsetting the apple cart here”

How wrong he was!

He looked at the one man who was pointing out the evil and ungodliness in the evil society and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Then Elijah looked at him and said, “Me? You’re the problem!”

This world has it backward and they need to be straightened out!

The world looks at us and they have the nerve to say that we, the church, we’re the problem!

They say we’re wrong for promoting godliness and standing against sin

They say we’re wrong for standing up for the pre-born children

They say we’re wrong for pointing out their lack of morality

Church, we need to have the backbone to stand back up to the world and say - You’re the one’s who’ve gotten things wrong, you’re the ones standing up calling evil good and good evil!

We’re Elijah today church, and we’re standing at the foot of Carmel!! We need to stand up when this world sees things backwards and point them back to God!

We need to stand up...

When everyone else refuses to speak up for what is right vv. 19-21;24

Notice verse 21...

What people? Israel, God’s people!

Church, we are living in a day when God’s people are refusing to speak up! You say, how bad can it get?

Did you know, during the height of Hitler’s regime, after he’d announced his plans for what he called the “final solution”, there were churches meeting that could hear the cries of Jews crammed into boxcars on trains. They could hear them screaming in fear for their life, and do you know what the churches did? They sang louder, so that they couldn’t hear the sound of their cries.

How bad can it get you ask? Come with me to Greensboro, to Randleman Road. I’ll take you down a little side drive that you wouldn’t even know was there. I show you a building that looks like a prison. Surrounded by guards, behind razor wire. You and I will stand on the hill and look at this small building where each week some 50-60 babies meet their end.

How bad can it get you ask?

Notice something here:

The people were so used to the evil that they remained silent

Maybe it was fear

Maybe it was complacency

All we know for sure is that when the man of God spoke and condemned Ahab and his priests, the people kept their mouths shut

Church, we can no longer be silent

God has called us to Mt Carmel, and we must meet this challenge head on!

In a world so consumed by evil, we cannot hold our peace any more

Church, I cannot speak for you, but I can speak for myself, and I refuse to be part of the silent majority, I want to stand up and speak like Elijah! We are living in a time when we need to stand up when the world sees things backwards, to stand up for what is right when everyone else refuses to do so, and church we need to stand even...

When we are outnumbered by evildoers vv. 22-29

There will come a time and place when you will have to take a stand for God and like Elijah, you may feel you’re standing alone, but remember the words of Martin Luther - God and one are a majority. Maybe his words are comfort enough, then listen to Paul’s words… Romans 8:31

Romans 8:31 KJV 1900

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:37

Romans 8:37 KJV 1900

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

We know today what Elijah did not know at the time, that there were some 7000 prophets who had not bowed their knee to Baal! Here’s a good question for them: Where were they? Why did they not speak up and stand up with him? We don’t know, but we do know that Elijah looked around, saw the odds, and decided that he’d take his chance with God!

What do we learn from this prophet who chose to stand with God? We learn...

What this world needs from the people of God today

The prophets of Baal put on a show. Praying, crying, jumping around, cutting themselves… That’s what the world does! It’s about excitement and entertainment. Its about captivating the attention.

Church, this does not impress God!

If you want to know what this world needs from the people of God today, then look no further than Elijah! Here’s what he did...

He rebuilt the altar vv. 30-32

Let me say, this world we’re in is trying to tear down anything and everything that speaks of God

Church, it’s time we stand up and start building some altars

They can take prayer and the Bible out of school, but not out of the homes and not out of our hearts!

They can can remove “In God we trust” from our money and out building,s but they cannot remove God!

Our country is divided today, and the only thing that can bring us back together is God!

He trusted in God vv. 33-35

There is some important symbolism here

Notice the twelve barrels of water

Symbolic o the twelve tribes of ISrael, but don’t miss this

More than symbolism, he was proving that God could and would do the impossilbe

How is your trust in God today church?

If you want to know why this world has a difficult time trusting God, it’s becasue the church has a diffiult time trusting HIm!

Elijah trusted God to do the impossible!

He called upon God vv. 36-38

Church, have you ever seen a time when the people of God need to call on Him?

We need to be Elijah!

We need to stand up and declare over our country, “Hear me O LORD, hear me that this people may know that thou art the LORD”!!

That needs to be our cry!

Church, look at verse 38...

“Then the fire of the LORD fell...”

Church, I want to see the fire of God fall today!

It didn’t happen at the beginning

It didn’t happen at the middle

It happened at the end!

It happened after the altar was built, after he prayed. Church, we want the fire of God to fall, but we don’t want to do the work. We want the fire of God to fall, but we don’t want to spend the time in prayer. But then, look at the results in verse 39…

Listen to me, the world will never have this reaction if we do not have this understanding within us that “ the LORD He is the God, the LORD He is the God.”

Are you ready to rebuild the altar? Are you ready to trust God? Are you ready to pray?

Let’s pray.