The dramatic confrontation on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, emphasizing Elijah's unwavering faith and God's power. It highlights Elijah's challenges to the people to choose between God and Baal, God's dramatic answer by fire, and the subsequent execution of the false prophets. The message underscores the importance of earnest prayer, using Elijah's persistent intercession for rain after the drought as a prime example of faith in action and God's faithfulness to His promises. The sermon concludes by connecting Elijah's actions and prayers to the Christian's responsibility to actively participate with God in bringing about His blessings.
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possibility that next Sunday we'll be speaking on the most wittiest, on Grazi woman, I believe, whose names overstain the pages of history, and that is Jezebel. And when you read about that woman, why? That's a bad story. I'd like you to be speaking on that next Sunday. Well, we'll be morning and night, I'm not sure. But then something else may sound you. Elijah must have had a breakdown. We see him very aggressive in chapters seventeen and eighteen, but we see him fleeing in chapter ninety. And I try to get the views of other scholars, and to appear and amaze me by using that very expression, that Elijah had a case of unstable nerves.
In fact, he came out and mentioned the fact he had a mental collapse and a physical collapse. That seems strange. We've been speaking on that. How are one so strong, courageous, and unafraid of the king, and the king's sword, and the king's men, and yet we see them just in the reverse in chapter nineteen. Now these may be our two subjects for the next Lord's Day, and I may add them in the paper a subject next weekend. So we turn to Isaiah chapter, I mean, Kings, first Kings chapter eighteen. Christine chapter eight is. And verse forty-one.
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Drink thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of bread. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to talk of parmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and said to his servant go up now look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is nothing and he said go again seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there arises a little cloud out of the sea that a man's hand.
And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down. Let the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass, and the meanwhile up to heaven was black with clouds and wind. There was a great rain, and Ahab rode and went to Jezeel. And the hand of the board was on a nighter, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezee. This morning we were speaking on some of the remarkable statements of Elijah in the question of the chapter we didn't read tonight, the formal verses.
Some of these striking statements, I think, that are seven and all. And the first one was when he said, How long, talk ye between your opinions. how that seemed to stifle the people of God to think that they should be faced with such an alternative, or charged with such an alternative. Here there's out there with the people of God, and yet they have turned from that. There are now followers of Baal, and Elijah comes to them and assains them of the fact that they've got an alternative faith. No longer can you go on as you're going, half for God and half for Baal. undecided, indefinite, walking the fence, to burn to do that, to have long not to see the fence burn beneath their feet.
Say, says the Lord, the hawk between two of these. If the Lord be God, follow him. If there are them, follow him. Reminds you of what you have in Revelation chapter three, neither corn or pot. God says, I wish you a one thing or the other. And because you're just lukewarm, I skew you out of my mouth. This kind of thing makes God sick. The next thing, he said, was a challenge. The God got answered by fire. Let him be God. That's in verse twenty-four. That's his second statement. You know these Baal worshippers.
Baal means the God of the Son, of the Son God. They looked upon Jehovah as more or less the to the deity of the Hebrews. The Hebrew deity. And they looked upon the Hebrews, God, in the same way they looked upon their own God, David. Little did they realize the great difference between the two. That Israel's God was the living God. And there was a challenge to prove he was the living God. That God that answered by power let him be God. And here we find Elijah going right into the domain, into the area of burialism.
Because burial claims to have control of the sun, the heat and the energy of the sun, the sun God. All right, if that's true, if your God is what he claims to be, then they're going to stay. And so he says that God that answers thy fire, let him be God. Yes, God had demonstrated time and time again that he was the God of fire. Remember that Tisha Bush lived down like a torch in the desert, and God spoke to Moses from out of the burning bush, removed thy shoes and off thy feet, for the place whereon thou stand is poorly ground.
Yes, this is the God of fire. Time and time again in the Old Testament, you see him thus demonstrated. This glory shone from Mount Sinai. There you see fire. Fire of God is a consuming part. When you think of the momentary mortuary, the moment against God and the fire burned among the people of God and thousands were put to death. God revealing himself as a consuming part. What about the fire that consumed the sacrifice? Do you find these sacrifices on the burnt offering in the Old Testament, on another occasion, and here is the offering, and sits upon that altar?
And yet a fire came from where? And for sure the sacrifice, leading up in the ashes, where did the fire come from? It came from God. God answered by fire, and whenever the fire devoured a sacrifice, it was symbolic of God's acceptance of that sacrifice. And if they had stood on the fire, didn't descend and consume the sacrifice in the Old Testament, they would know there's something wrong with them, or there's something wrong with the sacrifice. But where everything was put in order, and the sacrifice laid upon the altar, and the priest invoked the blessing of God Then the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice, and it indicated God had accepted what was associated with that sacrifice.
God revealed his acceptance or his rejection by answering by fire. As though you see, God has proven himself in the past to be that God should answer by fire. Now, very open to it. and we have demonstrated in this incident, as we noticed this morning, and we'll see a little later on, how God on this occasion responded to Elijah's call, and the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. Then we noticed in verse thirty-seven who will have Elijah's withering, blighting sarcasm, his savage humor. When he saw these priests, four hundred and fifty, and they placed their bullet upon their own.
Now they're calling to their God. Oh, they'll hear us and round and round they went, calling out, they'll hear us. They'll hear us, but nothing responded. No answer from Baal, no response. And Elijah, he begins to accuse, oh, their God is sleeping. your brother's walking, or maybe he's eating. Who's ever telling me? Try aloud and try aloud, and do you find Elijah with his wiggling sarcasm to these priests? He couldn't conceive his delight at their defeat, but for now no response from their thought.
This got on fearful anarchism as they began pulling out their lies and their lances and kept them and carving their bodies and the blood run down. And as he said this morning, finally, the just that they gave up, their God had left them down. Their God has not responded, those that prove that no God was listening. Bale was not a God. As the Bible says, you have eyes, they have eyes they see not, ears that they hear not, hands that they hand not, feet that they walk not. That's exactly true of idolatry. And isn't it a sad thing that there are millions and millions of people in the world today and they're calling upon a God that doesn't exist?
Just an imaginary deity in their minds. It's hard to believe that men and women will fall down to where an idol are good or a stone or try to appease these gods at making sacrifices. Great sacrifice such as casting your children to the God of the Zambi River, or the Ganges River. Fishing that God will accept that, and that will pave it onto them without sacrifice. No source that God lives are those gods. The only God who lives who exist is the God that we know, the living and the true God.
The God that answered by God. And you'll notice also Elijah's invitation. After this, then those four days. He asked God's people to come near. This turn has come. And now he has his altar ready. Everything's ready. I bid the people to join me, and I want you to see there's no papery here. There's no hidden spark or flame. God is wither answered by fire. And then that beautiful prayer... that he prayed in verses thirty-six and thirty-seven. And I'll leave it to you. He said, And came to pass, as the time of the offering and the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near them, said, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let it be known this day that there are God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
Hear me, O Lord. Hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Isn't that a lovely prayer? Quiet things, he prays in that prayer. Thou art God, I am thy servant. I have done all things according to thy word. Thou hadst heard of God. Thou hast turned their heart back again. God has got to do it all. And when he gets this recognition, when he gets this place in your heart and life and mine, there will be out his swaths. Yes, thou art powerful.
I am thy servant. I am thy church. I am thy. Whatever thy young Lord is according to thy word, there's the secret of the whole thing, a demon. Thou art a Jehovah. Thou hast turned our hearts back again. Only God can. But there are conditions involved. These are some of these statements that we were looking at this morning. Seven in order. And here's another one, the final one. The order is the execution. What does he say? He orders them to take these four hundred and fifty prophets of David. And he says, neither.
And they were straying, and yet the answer seems to be that then they took them captive and took them down a little bit higher, and Elijah was the one that would be executed. Yes, what a sad scene it was. See, though men, first they'd bled themselves, but now the final blow, and they're slaves. They are the prophets of theirs. There'd be a lot of howling today as such a thing happened. Listen to their day and live a little. People will say, well, those men will sincere. Those prophets, they've got a right to their religion. They've got a right to worship God the way they please. That's the way the public will talk today. A likeness has put them to death.
God is dealing in grace today, but he'll return to his antics, or his baptism prior of the Old Testament, in a day to come when Exodus Paul, who violates his script. Anurag's performance of his sacrifice. I want you to notice something answered. He chose the appropriate time for this occasion. He chose the appropriate hour. It was then the sacrifices being offered in the temple. You notice that in verse thirty-six? And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. brilliant and elegant even, the ten times.
And now at this time of the day when these other priests had shown that they didn't have a God they thought they had, and Elijah took these stones and he built his altar and he put the wood on and the ox on, and then he also had the church dug and the filled with water. And as he approached onto his altar, it was at the time of the evening's sacrifice. What does this mean? down in the southern kingdom, the city of Jerusalem, and in the city of Jerusalem there's a temple. And the priest at that time was approaching the altar in the temple to offer the evening sacrifice. Why is this going on in the long?
Up and on Karnet, that was what was going on down in the temple. At the time of the evening sacrifice, it simply shows us very clearly that everything we do, whether in prayer or service, is associated with the sacrifice of one Lord. God will accept everything that's associated with Jesus Christ. My prayers will not avail nothing unless they're associated with the work of Christ. My service amounts to nothing unless they're my service, followed by the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a right hour when he made this prayer.
On something more, as I mentioned, he called the people near unto himself. They had been a part off. He said it's been drawn on. The next thing, he repaired the altar. There had been altar there, but it had been destroyed. And he picked up the stone stones and he assembled them. In some of Israel's former days, happy times when they offered on that altar. but now they're broken down. I wonder if some of us can reflect on happier days than today, when the altar within its place, and every stone is in its place. But now it's broken down.
All the time there are altars that are no more. This daily season or session in the presence of God reading his word and spending time in prayer is that altar. My personal daily devotions because the altar is still there, is emptying a corridor. Who has that broken down? And here we find Elijah and the assembly, he's building the altar. And this is very important. And then again, you'll notice he observed the commandments in so doing. You have in Exodus chapter young, thirty-five, God says, there was to be no steps going up to that altar.
Whenever they built an altar, they had to be built right on the ground. God says no steps. I regret this. Man is not to exalt himself before the Lord. He's not to expose himself by ascending no steps. And he's not to lift up a tool upon any stone to carve it. He's got to put the stone just as he found it, just as God made it, and fell stone. Nothing to do with man's hands. no workmanship of men, no man exulting himself but exposing himself before the altar of God. The altar then was accessible to all, a child could have approached that altar.
It was on the level with the people. Oh, this is so significant when related to Jesus Christ and has worked upon the cross. And this was what Elijah did. He reassembled the altar. And after arranging it, He poured water on, he was strained at the river. This afternoon I began thinking, but why would he do this? He got tense, and then poured twelve barrels of water upon himself, everything was saturated and soaked. It seems as though he has such faith in God that God will answer his prayer that he's putting.
Don't put all his in God's way. Make it more difficult. for that sacrifice to burn by shooting over the earth. We got that faith in prayer and that faith in God. And is our praying of such a calibre that we can allow difficulties to come? Put them on, Lord. Put the difficulties on. My faith can leap over those difficulties. I've got faith in you. You can show not any difficulty. That's what it sees. Making it difficult. for fire to consume that sacrifice in spite of it all the fire descended and the sacrifice was received.
Then you have this prayer. This is what I want to get to. The rain fell. When you stop to think of what the lamb was like when Israel first went into it in contrast to what it was, then this took place on Mount Sinai. I read you a text over in Deuteronomy. It says, seven and eight. For the land thy God bringeth thee into, the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of drips of water of pountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive all of Antony, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without stressness.
Thou shalt not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig grass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given it. Here is abundance. This is the land that God brought them into. After their sin, after they're getting away from God and worshipping him. What was the land like at the end of three and a half years of judgment? Listen to this. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with the fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
and thy heaven that is over thee shall be brass, no rain coming down, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron, nothing coming up. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust all over thee, and she is a dust storm. From heaven shall I come down at under until I do destroy. In the one case you have obedience, in the other case you have disobedience. The consequence of obedience, the wonderful land, the land flowing with milk and honey. But after disobedient and departing from God and practicing idolatry, here's the land.
Blighted and blistered by the sun, no pride having been seen in the sky for three and a half years, the land passed. Now what a picture. It must have been a big picture. Ahab was a witness to what had happened, and he saw the best of public indignation. He couldn't do a thing. The people cried out, The Lord is God, and the Lord is God. And the people of Israel were so infuriated of these men, these priests who had to see them educated and trained by Jezebel. They were willing to participate in the slaughter of these The Lord is God.
If there's anything that makes a president or a king to tremble, it is a result of the public. Public opinion is very strong. Ahab saw was taking place. He didn't lift his finger. He saw the public indignation. Oh, to the destruction of the priesthood, they said, The Lord is God. We're going back to the living God. I wonder how that affected Ahab, but he once knew something about that God. He was a Jew who brought up under Jewish law that he departed from the living God and he embraced Daelism. And he had to witness all this.
Now you notice what Elijah says. Elijah turned him in verse forty-one. Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. What does that mean? Get thee up, they have, and eat and drink. That's all speaking of feasting or a sumptuous affair in the Bible. Should it be, the back in Jezreel, Jezreel, was waiting for her husband, thinking he was going to come back, having wondrous confrontation on Mount Carmel. And they had a sumptuous beast all prepared and walked in the midst of that.
Did Elijah know this? And say, Get up! Ahab didn't even think. But he didn't even think. As we shall see a little later on. But here is Elijah telling him to get up, eat, and drink. There's a sound of an abundance of rain. What did Elijah do? Ahab went to eat and drink. Elijah went up, it says in verse twenty-two. He went up to the top of Kama. Nobody went up there for him. He went up there to pray. This seems a strange thing.
He went up there to pray as far as James, how dangerous is this story. You don't find it here, but you still find it over in James. He went up And he fell upon his face. I was talking to him. Williamson was here on Thursday night. As you saw some of you, the postures are the idolaters in some of the pictures. And I asked him, I said, could you explain to me the posture of Elijah on this occasion? He said he fell upon the ground and he put his face between his knees. And I said, how did he do that? I said, you think he was sitting back more or less on a field. and putting his head forward between his knees, she says, yes, that's the way they do it in Israel.
And that's what he did. And he went up on Mount Carmel to pray. The Bible says, but why should you do this? He had the promise of God that God was going to sound in verse one of chapter eighteen. What did God say to him verse one? And it came to pass after many days. The word of the Lord came to the lives in the third year, saying, Go, fill my seat, self unto Ahab. I will send rain upon the earth. Why, you could say, Well, God's going to send rain upon the earth. Why should I have to go and pray? That's not. That's so. God's going to keep his promise. Now, this is something I've been enjoying the last day or two, and I hope you get it.
Do we have to do anything once God has promised something? Yes. Elijah could have said, all I've got to do now is wait and watch the proceedings. Wait until the cloud of the rain, clouds to come and the rain to come down. No. He told Ahab to get up and eat and drink. Elijah went up on Mount Palm and he bowed down. put his face between his knees. It doesn't say he prayed, but change tells us he prayed. But God said he was going to send away. Why do you have to pray? Listen to what you read over to Zechariah, verse six, verse seven.
That circle of God, I will yet for this be empowered by the house of Israel. To be a parent, I will entice them with men like a flock. I will be empowered. And this is the principle in the word of God and I hope we take it in. In other words, the promise of an abundant harvest smiles upon the farmer. But that's not the end of it. In the sun and in the sun and the rain that comes, there are signs in the smiles of an abundant harvest. But the farmer doesn't sit still and say, Well, I can't draw a grain without the sun, without grain, without sand.
I just wait till it comes. The old man, if he's going to reap the harvest, has got to cooperate. He's got to plow the soil. He's got to cut it. He's got to sow his seed. And when the seed has grown through the wheat and then to harvest it, the sun will do its part. The rain will do its part, and there is the soil, and many places the soil is sufficient without putting light in it. Yes, then, we've got to do all that. God sends the sunshine, He sends the rain, He gives us the salt, but we have got to turn the ground. And the Bible says with the sweat of your brow, you do it.
You do the prying, and you do the saying, and you do the reading. And that principle abides in prayer. God gives us his permanence. But we've got to do some prayer to see those promises in place. God says, I will be in fire up, saith the Lord. I wonder if we've grasped this or I'll be sitting back on our hunch and saying, well, if the Lord's going to bless, he's going to bless. I don't have any responsibility. I just sit around and wait and see what happens. Well, you won't see anything. You've got a responsibility in God's court, is that?
If there's going to be a harvest, the Christians have got some part in it. And it's a big part. Here is Elijah having the toll for God. He was going to send rain upon you. And he said a few minutes before, there's a sound and abundance of rain. And then he goes and he starts his prayer. And what a prayer he did. The Lord Jesus Christ not only practiced prayer, He proclaimed prayers. And the most godly men in the church's history have been men who were noble in prayer. They knew something of prayer. The Lord Jesus has asked who shall receive.
Seek and ye shall find. Not in it shall be opened unto you. Simply teaching it. If you don't ask, you will not receive. If you don't seek, you will not find. And if you don't not No door will be open unto you. Here is God's promise, but there is our responsibility. Prayer is no dreamy, reverie, or sweet sentimentality, though prayer is simply meant but very practical. It's a living vital force in a Christian's life. Here we know more, as the promises of God, we detent from asking for those things are not suitable for us.
Sometimes we ask God for things that God wouldn't begin to answer when we leave to our discussion. If we're perusing the word, reading the promises of God spending time in his word and spending time in prayer, depending on the spirit of Liban, we would never ask for things that would be detrimental to ourselves as Christians. We find ourselves in the trunk of God's will and thoughts in praying accordingly. These are some of the things we read in God's word concerning prayers. Now load us this passage over in James. James five and sixteen, this is the text of this message.
Confess your thoughts one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah is a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prays earnestly that it might not rain. We couldn't read a bit about that in the Old Testament. But nothing said in the Old Testament that Elijah prays for it not to rain. All of a sudden we see, as chapter seventeen opens, Elijah pews before Ahab and tells him that the rain is going to stop. There will be no more rain for peasant than this. I say so, according to my will.
But James left us in on the sick. He wouldn't know what pain Elijah did if it were not for James. Here is James telling us, Elijah prayed, and the rain will stay and come down from heaven. And that's what he says further. He prayed on so that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. And here's where our text tonight comes in. He goes up on the top of the mountain, he puts his head beneath this beads, and he begins to pray for water. He's going to pray for rain. Well, why do so? God said he was going to send it. It says, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth his rain.
Here is the importance of prayer. The promises of God and the prayers of the sick. Definite prayer. Prayed. He really prayed. He was threatened about. What was he praying about? Grave wanted. He was dead. And I'll tell you that real praying has no mimic battle. There's not a lot of sound that just powder going off, a sham battle, but no bullets. Sometimes there can be a lot of noise, but nothing done. No one being hit. God's not being reached. No target is hit. Just a sham battle. because there's not the energy of the Holy Spirit behind our petition.
There is a definite prayer, earnest prayer. It says Elijah prayed earnestly, fervently, way hot. That's what fervently means. That's what Jacob did he wrestle with the age. What did David do? He said, My heart panted as the heart panted out of the water, but so panted my soul after he was gone. is David in prayer. I'd like the blind man over in Luke eighteen, Brian Bartholomew. He was sitting beside the Jericho wall, and he heard many trampling feet. He cried, Oh, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And the disciples and others said, Let us repeat, Christ, hold yourself, and he cried not much the more. Jesus, thou, son of David, have mercy on me. He wanted his eyes and business. There was some show there. There was earnestness there. And that's true with us today if you expect any answer. Earnestness. It is impossible to pray too earnestly if you're praying for the glory of God. If we prayed for the glory of God like we prayed for ourselves, you see something there. You listen to that young lady and she's praying with all her heart that something young man has saw some attention in her. And she'll pray.
And nothing else will be in our mind. Or that young man praying for this right to come along, and I'll tell you, his mind's on one thing. He's giving it all to his God. He's really praying. He's a Christian. He wants God's will. And he doesn't mind to let God know quite often what he wants. He's brethren. He's owners. He wants his prayer to hit the heart. I wonder if we pray that way about the glory of God. Lord, I'm more concerned about you being glorified than me getting what I am. I want God for the glory. This is where we reach the zenith of Pharaoh, like praying for God's glory.
Pharaoh's humble there. Why do you think, oh, humble, will I do all? A man of like passions. He stood like a mighty yoke before Ahab, but he was hemmed as a boorish before the Lord. There he is. would have tread between his knees. I'll tell you a man can stand tall in the presence of sin, but I'll tell you he is in low in the presence of God. The presence of God that puts us in a right place and shrivels are up to our proper size. Yes, this is unrighteous. What a man of prayer was. And then his expectant faith. He expected that faith to come through.
God informed him. He expected it. Yet he prayed. The Lord Jesus said, whatsoever thing ye have need of, then ye pray. Believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have death. Fairer tithes on exercise. It grows strong when repeating on the word of God. And then how confident Elijah was in his prayer. He sent an ad. That seems strange to me. Furious. And must we find a little distance over through the edge of the rock. Montraim was for the boy to look out over the Mediterranean. And while Elijah bowed there before the Lord, he sent a lad.
Go and see you. You can see something. The little fellow ran. And he came back. He said, there's nothing. Nothing. If Elijah gets a search, go again. While Elijah went, he was saved. The lad came back, second down. There's nothing. Go again. The lad went again. On the seventh time he came back. Elijah stood there. Elijah stood there in hold of God. I would have loved to have had a tape recording of his grave. The lad came back. He said, with the cloud, the skies were man's hands.
It was something across the sky. Anyone knows that that part of the world? Can you see a little white cloud? stuffling across the sky, driven with the winds, you know, something's coming. A big storm almost a hurl. You'll notice what it says in those last verses. Verse forty-five. Verse forty-four, and it came to pass that the seventh time that he said, Behold, there will arise a little crowd out to the sea, that a man's hand, and he said, Go up, turn to Ahab, prepare my child, and get me down, that the rain stopped enough. The king could pass in the meanwhile at the heaven of black with clouds and wind.
And there was a great rain. They had groaned and bent with treasury. Yes, one little cloud. In this chapter and the one before, we noticed about the little oil in the cruise. And then a little cape. And here we find a little cloud. The signs of a man's hand. The forerunner of a blessing. When I prayed the Lord, say, there's a little flower, the size of a man's hand, the light of noon, this is it. He prayed seven times. Oh, how intensely he prayed. How consistently he prayed.
He just kept laying hold of God, pushed the building, pushed the building, pushed the building. Finally, you see, The tide's coming and the sky was darkening. He came up in a hurry for he sent word mockably to Ahab. Told a young man. Was this boy the widow's son we were talking about? He did not know, but he sent the lamb to Ahab. Tell Ahab to give him his chariot and it moved as quickly as he can. Why? That song is coming up. The bear are pisan, the trees here in the cap of them in Jezreel. They'll be almost like a lake. They'll not be able to get through and the rivers will be swollen. and the mud will be such that they won't be able to get home, they have, tell them to get down and get going quickly.
This storm is coming up in such a way. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could see a cloud this size of a man's hand, after consistent waiting upon God, patiently, collectively, unanimously, praying for the blessing of God. Oh, sweetie, the finger should be solved, the blessing. What am I contributing to that? Sit back and just enjoy it all when it comes. Or can you say, I have, I have, I have. But the rain's came. Only God knows what a blessing after a three and a half years like the rain's came. Where this, no lakes, no roads, no streets, nothing but dust and dust and dust.
carcasses of animals and human beings all over the place and birds are now the sweeping way in the sky with black replies and here there's Ahab in his chariot and he's driving fast he wants to get the treasury of fifteen miles away he's got long ways to go and the driving rain has cost and the amazing thing I thought about this this afternoon I read was the last verse I want to read and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. And he girded up his wounds and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jerusalem. I thought, well, Elijah was no young man, no old man, rather.
He was a young man. Why? He sure made an old man run fifteen miles and run ahead of the chariot. These horses in that chariot there were gold. And Elijah wrapped his crown around and took off. He got in the head of those horses. And he went, hey, fifteen miles to Jerusalem. He must have been a young man in good condition. But you know, the whole secret is just the hand of the Lord was upon him. This wasn't natural for a man who run fifteen miles with a driving rainstorm and out on the horse. The hand of the Lord was upon him.
I believe the Lord must have given him some wings instead of feet. But anyway, he kept ahead of Ahab. This is amazing. He wanted Ahab to realize, although he had a zeal for the Lord, to see Pharaoh's impetus and destroy, he still respected the man who was king. He ran ahead of him as his courier. we should have respect for those in their part. But here we find endurance, physical endurance, in this case of Ahab running before the child all the way to Jezreel.
I had this prophecy afternoon, I was thinking about the beginning of the next chapter, well he left Jezreel quickly and he got caught going there. But Jezreel says he won't have killed him. Yes. He all right, he got in reverse. He ran pretty fast when he was going to Josiah, but when he heard that Josiah was going to kill him, he would cross the airway. He was a speaker of that message each other. But I wonder if you know these lessons, practice these lessons in church. It all depends on what he put into it, what we get out. It's nice to see God work, but it's nice to be saved. I'd be able to say I had a hand in it.
I did what it could. I give it all I have. Therefore I can rejoice with a clear conscience. I'd hate to see a time of blessing come. I'm doing some people's shoes. I'd have an awful guilty conscience because of the little I put into. The little exercise I have to pray, to witness, to run. Sometimes God's going to bless. I believe that with all my heart. Except for you, what part in happiness. There shall be showers of destiny. The rain is coming. God has promised it. I want to be positive. I want to contribute to it.
I want those showers to fall first on my heart. But I want those showers to fall in the air around me. And I trust with you to be in the same mind and mood as Elijah when he prayed earnestly that the rain might come out and it came. And God is giving Elijah the credit for over here in jail. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave way. As you read James' account, you think Elijah was responsible for the whole day. Elijah was responsible for the doubt he was responsible for the sorrows of England, the came, and the blessed people, and the land blessed. Elijah did it all, according to James.
As you read within the Old Testament, God did it all. That's the old saying, I think newly met, sir. So what? Is it all dependent on God? But what, too, is it all dependent on you? It's a team that will work this together with God on our possible intervention. If you're not a Christian, I trust you'll come to Christ and unto us. So be blessed. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our word Jesus, Christ, the name of thy presence, We ask thy blessing upon thy words. Fill our hearts, we pray thee. May we become exercise.
As we see the dry ground, the barrenness all around, the thirsty hearts everywhere. O God, at times, the heaven seems like grass. We pray that we would see the sign of a coming blessing, coming rainstorm. and thou wilt shower thy people with thy mercies, with thy blessings. O Father, we ask this as we commend this day and thy word in ourselves to be, and the Lord Jesus Christ is there. Shall we sing number thirty-seven?