Well, I do invite you to turn your Bibles, please, to 1 Kings chapter 18, and we want to look at verses 17 through 39. As we approach this part of the Holy Scriptures, we find that there is a drought. And there's a drought for three and a half years. And this drought actually came about because of punishment through Elijah. Elijah prayed that there would be no rain. And that was punishment because the people had turned away from Jehovah God. And we find here in this section in 1 Kings 18, verse 17 through 39, God now is finally ready to allow that drought to be over. But not before he handles the problem and zeroes in on the whole cause of this drought. It's the punishment because the people had forsaken God and turned to the false god, Baal. As a matter of fact, God marvelously arranged this divine appointment between Elijah the prophet and the wicked king Ahab. And so if you find your way to 1 Kings chapter 18, and I'm gonna be starting looking here at verse 17, notice how the narrator continues with the story. 1 Kings 18, 17, when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is this you, you troubler of Israel? You see, there was going to be a great contest on Mount Carmel. And that great contest was going to prove who is the real God. And Ahab had abandoned the Lord, and the people were trying to follow Baal and the Lord at the same time. And so when these two finally meet, Elijah, the prophet of God, and Ahab, the wicked king, Ahab launches this accusation, and he says, is this you, you troubler of Israel? In reality, the troubler of Israel was wicked king Ahab. Because he had abandoned the Lord. And he was suffering the consequences of the punishment of God by being a drought on the land. As a matter of fact, a little before this in the narrative, it explains that here this king is going around the countryside looking for grass, looking for water so he may feed his animals. That's how bad it got. And yet, rather than humbling himself and recognizing that it was his sin that caused this punishment, he accuses Elijah as being the troubler of Israel. And you know what? As we stand up, for justice, and for righteousness, and for the law of God, and for his word, and for the supremacy of Jesus Christ and God in our community and in our nation, we will receive the same accusation. You are a troubler here in this land, in this community, in this workplace, in this neighborhood, and sometimes even in this family. Oh, you see, Christians are always getting in their way. They want to progress. Oh, but we know their progression is going over a cliff, down into the depths of deceit and despair and degradation and decay and punishment. And yet, Elijah, he is not baffled by this accusation. Look at verse 18. Elijah says, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. And so Elijah had been in hiding, God was keeping him safe, but now God realizes it's time to bring everything to a head and to deal with this problem. So notice what Elijah says in verse 19, And so Elijah is going to set up this contest. We're finally going to realize and understand and have proof who is the real God in Israel. So verse 20 says, so Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And so then, Elijah, he's been dealing with Ahab, now he's gonna turn his attention to the people. And he says here in verse 21 to the people, Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him. But the people did not answer. Oh, you see, the worship of the people was split. They thought they could give Jehovah a little wink and a nod and kind of give Jehovah some of what he wanted, but then they could turn their attention to, to Baal. Oh yes, the God of fertility. Oh, looking to bale for rain and for crops and all of their needs. Oh, but when they needed Jehovah, ah, we're glad, we glad we still have the Lord if something happens. And so Elijah says, this is not worship, this is wavering. The word here actually is limping. You're limping back and forth between these two gods. And then Elijah tells them, you need to make a decision. Now we can fall into the air, well isn't it at least they gave Jehovah some acknowledgement? Isn't that better than nothing? You know in God's economy it's zero or 100 percent. Listen to these words in Joshua, as Joshua had a similar situation. And Joshua told the people, If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Oh, Joshua was all in, one hundred percent. Jesus picks up that theme, and he says in Matthew chapter 6, And then we have the lament of Jesus. In the book of Luke, Jesus said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you will not have it. Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and I say to you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus realized, according to that parable that he told, when The servants were sent. And the servants were killed. And then, the question was, the wondering was, well, if I send my own son, surely they will receive him, right? No. How often God sent one prophet after another, after another, after another, they would not hear. And finally God sends his own dear son, and they slay him as well on the cross. Well, you see, we can't have it both ways. And to show where the people were when this question was put to them, notice again at the end of verse 21, but the people did not answer, meaning they had no answer, except their life was giving an answer. Because, you see, If the question is put to us, you need to make a choice, one or the other, and you say, well, I'd rather stay in between. You've already made a choice, and you've abandoned, and you've forsaken God. And so Elijah gives this proposal here in verse 22 about this contest. Now the people are going to say something. And all the people said, that's a good idea. Oh, you see, they couldn't answer when they had to make a choice. But when Elijah took it one step further, okay, you're not going to make a choice. We're going to give proof who the real God is. They said, okay, that's a good idea. And so the whole purpose of this contest, it's there in verse 24. then you call on the name of your God and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God who answers by fire. He is God. The proof, the purpose of this contest is to show who really is Lord God Jehovah in Israel. And so, the prophets in the contest, we have the prophets of Baal and the prophet of Jehovah. So notice what happens here in verse 25. So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many and call on the name of your God but put no fire under it. Then they took the ox which was given to them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, oh Baal answer us. But there was no voice and no one answered and they leaped about the altar which they made. It came about at noon that Elijah mocked them. And so, These prophets had a certain method to try to get the attention of Baal. They prayed to Baal. He's a false god, and so we know false gods have no ears, or they have ears, but they can't hear. And so they began leaping and shouting and raving, and it would even say they began cutting themselves, trying to get Baal's attention. And so Elijah begins to mock them. Look at verse 27. It came about, about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, call out with a loud voice, for he is God. Either he is occupied, meaning he's thinking about something, or gone aside, kind of a smooth way to saying he's taking care of necessities in the bathroom, or he's on a journey, or perhaps he's asleep and needs to be awakened. Now, from a New Testament perspective, we wouldn't say this is really a polished prophets language to use. And yet, this was the ridicule that they had coming to them. Because they were trusting in a false God. But our God never slumbers, nor does he sleep. And notice the miserable failure of these prophets. Verse 28, so they cry with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was passed, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. That is what happens to someone when they trust in a false god. Their life becomes a life of shame because they invested all their life and their trust in something that was false. And then The narrative turns to the prophet of the Lord. Look at verse 30, please. Then 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, which had been torn down. Elijah took 12 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. So 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 measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And 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. The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. Now remember, the one who wins the contest is the one whom the God consumes that sacrifice. And Elijah is going to pray. I find it interesting, though, that Elijah is giving all the advantages to the Baal worshippers, right? First of all, he's playing away, so to speak, right? He's not even at home court. If there were a coin toss, there wasn't. But actually, he allowed the other team to go first. To receive the ball, so to speak. And now, he makes the playing conditions totally drenched with water. But he's going to pray. Have you ever been in a situation, I'm sure you have been, where you had a prayer request, And it wasn't just any normal prayer requests. Because what you were praying was in a situation that, humanly speaking, has been made extremely difficult and extremely complicated. But don't worry. Why does God allow that? Because when he comes through with that prayer answer, it's no doubt, it was Jehovah God. And so, he takes this altar that did exist there, used to, this Altar Jehovah, it wasn't used, so it needed to be repaired. And he took 12 stones to remind the people of who they were. 12 stones, each stone representing a tribe of Israel, for the people to realize and remember and recognize who you are. You're a people of Israel, of Jehovah, the 12 tribes. This is where you came from. You came from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he repaired that altar. So that altar could be a devotion and a worship and a service to the Lord. And I believe by way of application, we need to ask ourselves the question, what needs to be repaired in our life of devotion and worship to the Lord? Have we somehow in our lives allowed this, the word is syncretism, taking things out of the world, perhaps even different religions, taking our own thoughts, trying to mix it all together with Christianity and having that as our religion. Oh no. That's what the people of Israel were trying to do. But Elijah reminded the people where they came from. And then he prayed. Oh, look at verse 36, please. of 1 Kings 18, verse 36. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel, and I am your servant, and I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that the people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and you have turned their hearts back again. Oh, you see, Moses was the deliverer of the law. But who was the one that defended the law? Oh, it was Elijah. He was defending the law of the Lord. He wanted the people to return to the law. He wanted people to be loyal to the Lord. He wanted people to have a love for the Lord. Elijah wanted the people to know that God is the God of Israel and that God is Jehovah. He also, it's very interesting here, he wanted the people to know that he was the Lord's servant. I don't think this was necessarily out of like a hundred percent a prideful thing, but I believe he wanted the people to know that he was God's servant because he was just trying to help them. He was trying to bring them back to the Lord. He truly loved the people and he longed to lead them back to the law of the Lord and the true worship of Jehovah God. And so he prayed that the people would know that it was God who was bringing them back. They did not go search God. God went in search of them. And so then. We have here now that as he prayed in verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. The people confessed that Jehovah is the true God. And then there had to be the killing of the prophets according to the law. False teachers needed to be killed. And then Elijah prayed and the rains came down and the drought was over. Oh, you see, Elijah had this great ministry. and they longed to bring the people back. He longed to remind them of where they came from. They needed to repent of their sin and come back to Jehovah God. And so, one of the tragedies of Israel turning to the Baals was that they lost their worship. of the true God. And that's a great tragedy. But right along with that, when Israel turned to the Baals, they lost that witness for Lord Jehovah. Oh, they were to be a light. They were to be attractive to other nations, to other nations who want this God to be their God. And in conclusion, turn please to 1 Peter chapter 3, You remember that Peter himself was someone that wanted to remind the Christians about where they came from too. Saved in Jesus Christ. But notice what Peter says in 1 Peter 3. How is it that we will be that witness for Jesus, for Jehovah God, in our nation, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, even in our families where they say we're the troublers? How is it that we're going to be a witness to those people? Peter gives us the answer. 1 Peter 3, and notice verse 15. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Oh, how is it that we're going to be a witness? It's because our hearts are sanctified. We're right with God. We are loyal to the Lord. We love the Lord. We're following His law. We make Christ Lord in our hearts. And then Peter says, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. and keep a good conscience on all things in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it's better if God will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong." So by God's grace, May we learn from Elijah to stand up for the law of God, to love him, to be loyal to him, to make sure that Christ has first place in our hearts. And as a result, may we be that witness to a lost world around us who's observing our good behavior, and may they come to know Jesus as their savior as well. Father, we thank you so much for this insight into the life of Elijah. Oh, Father, May you make us whiter than snow, whiter than snow. May we cast down every idol, may you cast out every foe. Now wash us, Lord Jesus, that we will be whiter than snow. And then as you cleanse us and sanctify us, may we be that shining witness to a lost world, that they may come to know Jesus as well, for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.