WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:02.569 Today we're actually finishing up our series 00:00:02.569 --> 00:00:04.790 that we've been in all summer long going through 00:00:04.790 --> 00:00:07.250 the book of James. And I want to give a special 00:00:07.250 --> 00:00:09.830 thanks to everyone else that preached as a part 00:00:09.830 --> 00:00:12.449 of that. So a special thanks to Gary and Alex 00:00:12.449 --> 00:00:15.529 and Jen and Jake and Scott and Eric. Thanks for 00:00:15.529 --> 00:00:17.929 being part of this year. So give them a round 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:22.030 of applause. And while Eric's not here, a special 00:00:22.030 --> 00:00:23.649 thanks to him because he talked about baseball 00:00:23.649 --> 00:00:26.089 last week. So that's great. All right, so let's 00:00:26.089 --> 00:00:28.289 actually, we're just going to jump right in. 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:30.839 to the passage so that we can get going, okay? 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.899 So we're going to be in James chapter 5. There's 00:00:33.899 --> 00:00:35.700 Bibles on the table. They're the blue things. 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:37.600 And then there's Bibles out in the lobby. If 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.060 you want to take one home, feel free to take 00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:41.299 one if you don't have one. Or you can download 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:45.579 a Bible from any of the digital app stores. James 00:00:45.579 --> 00:00:47.500 is towards the end of the Bible. There's only 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:49.600 a few things after it. So it's Hebrews, James, 00:00:49.859 --> 00:00:52.280 and then you start seeing 1 and 2 Peter and 1, 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:54.899 2, 3 John. So if you see that neighborhood, you 00:00:54.899 --> 00:00:56.679 know where to get to, okay? We're going to be 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.539 in James. And then we have a tradition of giving 00:00:59.539 --> 00:01:01.399 the scriptures our full attention when they're 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:03.820 read in the context of a message or a sermon. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:06.519 You can do that any way that is going to work 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:08.219 best for you. But if you'd like to stand with 00:01:08.219 --> 00:01:11.019 me, you can stand with me now as I read from 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:18.980 James 5, starting in verse 13. Are any among 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:22.640 you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:26.480 They should sing songs of praise. Are any among 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:28.939 you sick? They should call for the elders of 00:01:28.939 --> 00:01:31.180 the church and have them pray over them, anointing 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:34.019 them with oil in the name of the Lord. Prayer 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:36.840 of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:39.939 raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins 00:01:39.939 --> 00:01:43.099 will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins 00:01:43.099 --> 00:01:45.260 to one another and pray for one another so that 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:47.560 you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:51.500 is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:54.739 like us. And he prayed fervently that it might 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:57.400 not rain, and for three years and six months 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.319 it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:04.680 again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:07.739 its harvest. My brothers and sisters, if anyone 00:02:07.739 --> 00:02:10.259 among you wanders from the truth and is brought 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:13.000 back by another, you should know that whoever 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.620 brings back a sinner from wandering will save 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.599 the sinner's soul from death and will cover a 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:24.300 multitude of sins. And the book of James ends. 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:28.599 Let us pray. God of every tribe, every tongue, 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.400 every color, every nation, we thank you for the 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:35.180 scriptures that they have persisted throughout 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:38.000 the millennia. We still have them to read, to 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.400 consider, to learn from. Whatever you have for 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.599 us today, I pray that it would stick, that it 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:45.659 would become a part of the framework of our faith, 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:49.000 that our faith would become stronger as we become 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.449 more like your son, Jesus. Amen? Amen. You may 00:02:53.449 --> 00:03:04.150 be seated. Elijah is the fourth historical figure 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:07.289 that James has mentioned throughout his short 00:03:07.289 --> 00:03:12.030 book of just five chapters. He mentions Abraham. 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:15.569 He mentions Rahab when he's talking about faith, 00:03:15.669 --> 00:03:18.449 when he's talking about actions. He mentions 00:03:18.449 --> 00:03:22.580 Job. when he's talking about enduring through 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:27.180 suffering. Here in the last few verses, James 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:30.680 mentions Elijah when he's talking about prayer. 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:33.580 Now, we've already talked about prayer, a number 00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:35.560 of different sermons, and so I'm not going to 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.219 focus on the subject of prayer. I want to focus 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:42.099 on the subject of Elijah, because Bible writers 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:45.099 do this thing quite often where they'll name 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:49.030 drop. They'll just mention someone and maybe 00:03:49.030 --> 00:03:51.949 just a little bit of their story, expecting that 00:03:51.949 --> 00:03:54.050 you'll know more of the story and that this story 00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:56.729 will help you with understanding what's going 00:03:56.729 --> 00:04:00.009 on. We do the same thing now. If you have lived 00:04:00.009 --> 00:04:03.430 in Rock Island for more than 10 years, and I 00:04:03.430 --> 00:04:07.849 say the Walmart debacle, you know exactly what 00:04:07.849 --> 00:04:09.770 I'm talking about. It's a similar thing here, 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:14.439 where you drop a topic or a name. And immediately 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:17.240 whatever I say next gets put into the context 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:22.639 of that thing that I just mentioned. Writers 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.019 like James do this all the time, knowing that 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:27.319 the basic reference will tell us something. But 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.800 they also know that if we have more of the details, 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:33.019 we'll find more meaning in what is being said. 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:36.600 So just a pastor's encouragement, whenever possible, 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:39.660 if a Bible writer mentions something or someone 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:42.199 else or another event that happened way earlier 00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:45.509 in the book, it will benefit you to go back and 00:04:45.509 --> 00:04:48.470 look at what actually happened. It will tell 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:52.149 you more about what they're saying right there. 00:04:52.310 --> 00:04:53.430 And so that's what we're going to do today. We're 00:04:53.430 --> 00:04:54.610 actually going to go back. We're going to look 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:57.430 at Elijah because these verses about Elijah might 00:04:57.430 --> 00:05:02.870 be about more than just rain and prayer. If you 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:04.449 want to read every word of the story later, you 00:05:04.449 --> 00:05:08.009 can. You're going to go back to 1 Kings 11, okay? 00:05:08.050 --> 00:05:10.339 And you're going to read at least through. Chapter 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:12.579 19, but I'm going to paraphrase it for us for 00:05:12.579 --> 00:05:17.500 the sake of time. In 120 years, Israel had three 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:21.399 kings. Just popcorn it. Who were Israel's first 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:26.220 three kings? Just popcorn it. Saul? Solomon and 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:28.980 David. Yeah. So first was Saul, then came David, 00:05:29.060 --> 00:05:31.839 and then came his son Solomon. And then in 1 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:36.199 Kings 11, it says that Solomon dies. Everything 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.699 changes. The kingdom of 12 tribes splits into 00:05:40.699 --> 00:05:43.160 two kingdoms. Ten tribes in the north keep the 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:45.779 name Israel. Two tribes in the south, they take 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:48.959 the name Judah, which was the name of one of 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.339 those two tribes. And over the course of less 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:56.560 than the next 200 years, 120 years, three kings 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:01.959 for everybody. In less than the next 200 years, 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:06.459 the northern king had 19 kings. The southern 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:13.360 kingdom had 20. So when you get to Elijah, you 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.939 can tell that the context has already changed. 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:18.360 It's tumultuous. There's something happening. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:20.920 When you get to Elijah, he's on the seventh king 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:25.139 after Solomon. And every single one of those 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:27.120 kings, if you read it, it says, and this king 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.579 did evil in the sight of God. The next one, and 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:31.939 this king did evil in the sight of God. And the 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.000 next one, and this king did evil in the sight 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.459 of God. And you get to Ahab, and he says, this 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:40.800 king did evil in the sight of God more than any 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:46.300 other king. The evil that he did that was more 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:48.240 than any other king was that he married someone 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.060 from outside of Israel, and he brought her cultural 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:56.500 god into Israel. That cultural god was called 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:00.439 what in English? We tend to say Baal, but it 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:05.519 was actually Baal. So he brings her God into 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:10.060 Israel. And not only does he worship Baal, but 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:13.379 he leads the people of Israel into worshiping 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:17.480 Baal. He sets up places of worship for Baal. 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:20.639 And, all right, we'll just keep the Bible quiz 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:25.420 going. Who remembers the first commandment? Thou 00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:28.959 shalt have no other gods before me. If you have 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:31.740 a hard time memorizing Ten Commandments or all 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:33.959 the Beatitudes, you know, most of the time any 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:35.699 of us are trying to memorize a list, we at least 00:07:35.699 --> 00:07:39.920 remember the first one. You shall have no other 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:49.360 gods before me. Sin wasn't just that he worshipped 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.819 another god. It's that he led the people to do 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:57.019 it as well. This is a classic case of what we 00:07:57.019 --> 00:07:59.579 still see today, where the leader goes, the people 00:07:59.579 --> 00:08:04.480 follow. The leader is worshiping false gods. 00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:07.920 A good chunk of those people are going to worship 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:13.240 that false god. The leader is protecting abusers, 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.439 cutting funding for the poorest people, and saying 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.000 racist, conspiracy -laden nonsense designed to 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.939 distract people from God and justice than a great... 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:27.980 number of people will turn around and protect 00:08:27.980 --> 00:08:32.159 abusers, praise the neglect of the needy, and 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:36.740 echo racist conspiracy -laden nonsense designed 00:08:36.740 --> 00:08:46.580 to distract them from God and from justice. So 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:50.580 Elijah, he knows this is what is happening. He 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:54.039 goes to the king and he says, it's not going 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:58.240 to rain anymore. Your sin, your sin, it's not 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.220 going to rain. It's shut up the heavens. And 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.960 it will not rain again until I pray. Now, if 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:07.899 you're the king, if you're the leader, you have 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:10.539 two choices. You either repent and change course, 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:14.620 or you try to kill the messenger to keep from 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:17.799 that message getting out to the people. And isn't 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:22.059 that what continues to happen today? For the 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:25.259 next... Three and a half years, Elijah was a 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:29.759 hunted man. And so God hides him near, in the 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:31.460 scriptures it's called a wadi, but it's essentially 00:09:31.460 --> 00:09:35.299 just a riverbed that still has water in it. And 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:37.480 for food, my wife will love this. She loves this 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.820 part of the story. For food, he had the ravens 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:45.399 bring him food every day. All she wants is a 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:47.139 raven to befriend her. That's all she wants. 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:51.379 Or a crow, one of the two. You just want a bird 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:53.730 to be friends with you. A crow, specifically. 00:09:54.570 --> 00:10:01.330 Elijah had plenty of bird friends. I know I'm 00:10:01.330 --> 00:10:02.669 joking around a little bit here, but I want you 00:10:02.669 --> 00:10:04.870 to hear what I'm about to say. If God tells you 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:06.789 to confront the powers that be, he will feed 00:10:06.789 --> 00:10:12.970 you. If God tells you to confront the powers 00:10:12.970 --> 00:10:20.539 that be, he will feed you. I think one of our 00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:23.080 greatest fears is what we will lose if we speak 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:29.840 up. It will require all of the faith that James 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:34.200 has been teaching us about. It will require all 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.600 of the patience that James has been teaching 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.659 us about. It will require us mastering our tongue 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:42.759 and our temper the way that James has been teaching 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:48.429 us so that we can use all of the wisdom. That 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:55.190 James has been teaching us. When God says to 00:10:55.190 --> 00:11:00.269 speak. With this mouth. As the words come out. 00:11:00.730 --> 00:11:03.450 He will give you what you need to go back in. 00:11:06.090 --> 00:11:10.250 Now that doesn't mean. That the first way that 00:11:10.250 --> 00:11:12.970 God feeds you will be the only way that he feeds 00:11:12.970 --> 00:11:16.350 you. It says that eventually Elijah's water dried 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:20.320 up. presumably because the water came up. Maybe 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.179 the ravens stopped coming there because they 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:26.399 didn't have water to drink either. And so it 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.639 says that God spoke to him and said, Elijah, 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:30.759 I want you to go to a place called Zarephath. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.919 There's a widow there that I have told to feed 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:38.700 you. And he goes. He decides to trust the Lord 00:11:38.700 --> 00:11:41.799 once again, trusting the Lord will provide for 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:44.679 him, though he has spoken out and his life is 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:46.700 in danger. And it says that he goes to Zarephath 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:49.779 and he finds this widow at the gate of the city 00:11:49.779 --> 00:11:54.620 and she's collecting sticks. And he says to her, 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:59.379 will you please bring me water and provide food 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:06.500 for me? She says, I would, but... I only have 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:09.879 enough left for one day. I only have enough left 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:13.740 for one more meal for myself and for my son. 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:16.059 The reason I'm here is because I'm collecting 00:12:16.059 --> 00:12:19.740 sticks to make a fire to bake our last meal so 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:25.500 that then my son and I will die. It's a moment 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:27.340 of realism for Elijah. He's been hidden away. 00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:31.259 He's had food and water for his every day. He 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:33.940 has been in hiding, but he has had it relatively 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:38.970 easy. He hasn't seen yet how God's punishment 00:12:38.970 --> 00:12:41.570 and judgment against Ahab have been affecting 00:12:41.570 --> 00:12:47.649 the people. Because as a leader goes, so goes 00:12:47.649 --> 00:12:53.389 the people. And if judgment and punishment comes 00:12:53.389 --> 00:12:56.309 against a leader, it will inevitably affect the 00:12:56.309 --> 00:13:01.230 people that he leads as well. So Elijah promises. 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:04.870 He says, no matter what, no matter how long your 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:09.059 supplies, How low you think your supplies are. 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.000 Even if you think you can see the bottom through 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.379 the grain that you're about to use, your grain, 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:19.059 your oil, will never run out until the rain comes. 00:13:19.940 --> 00:13:23.620 Again, that is my promise to you as a man of 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:31.240 God. She believes him. She bakes. She gives food 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:33.799 to him. She has food for herself and for her 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:37.789 son, and it happens. single day. How many of 00:13:37.789 --> 00:13:40.129 us have the guts to say what we believe God will 00:13:40.129 --> 00:13:47.590 do right after our water ran out? How many of 00:13:47.590 --> 00:13:50.029 us have the guts to use everything we have left 00:13:50.029 --> 00:13:52.169 over to feed a stranger, trusting there would 00:13:52.169 --> 00:13:58.889 be more tomorrow? For Elijah, he trusted that 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:01.610 God didn't send him there to die. Or for this 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:04.409 woman, or her son to die. But listen, he was 00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:07.840 a man of faith. The real credit should go to 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:19.740 the woman. That she believed. It was her life. 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:23.620 It was her son's life that she was putting on 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:30.059 the line to help a stranger. It was her faith 00:14:30.059 --> 00:14:35.149 that kept him alive. Now, this goes on for a 00:14:35.149 --> 00:14:37.330 while, probably years. We know that it's three 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:39.970 and a half years in total. It doesn't say how 00:14:39.970 --> 00:14:42.009 long until the waterbed dried up. It could have 00:14:42.009 --> 00:14:45.049 been years that she was feeding him every day. 00:14:45.090 --> 00:14:47.769 And then it says that her son got sick anyway. 00:14:48.309 --> 00:14:51.690 It says that he dies. So she says to Elijah, 00:14:51.809 --> 00:14:54.409 something most of us have probably felt as well. 00:14:55.750 --> 00:14:57.830 She says, after all this, what have you done? 00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:04.590 She says, is this my old sin? That I'm being 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:13.090 punished for? That you let my son die? He says 00:15:13.090 --> 00:15:22.409 that Elijah cried to God over this boy. He says 00:15:22.409 --> 00:15:24.809 to God, why have you saved my life but taken 00:15:24.809 --> 00:15:29.360 his? He cries out. He says, let him die. He falls 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.340 onto the boy three times. It describes him laying 00:15:32.340 --> 00:15:35.139 his body across this boy's body three different 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:38.240 times, crying and praying. And it says that the 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:44.259 life of the child came back into him again. Elijah 00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:46.559 knows that none of this has happened because 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:52.399 of her sin. None of this was her fault. Why should 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:57.120 she lose her son because of someone else's sin? 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:05.220 when he was alive because of her faith. And I 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:12.000 think that he knows if her son died and needed 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.500 to be brought back to life, how many others are 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:17.879 dying, hoping that there would still be life. 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:21.960 So it was time for him to go back to the king, 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:27.600 to confront not only the king's idolatry, but 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.879 to confront... All of the prophets of Baal. To 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:34.620 confront all of the false leaders that were leading 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:37.460 the people into worshiping something that was 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:41.580 wicked. Now remember, all of this, everything 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:44.519 that I've just said is baked into two verses 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:50.039 in James. That Elijah was a human like us. All 00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:52.799 of this. And he prayed that it would stop raining, 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:54.899 and then he prayed that it would begin raining. 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:57.960 All of this happened in between there, and we're 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:02.600 not even done yet. So Elijah goes back, and he 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:06.599 says to the king, let's have a contest. All right, 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:07.920 he didn't say that, but that's the kind of way 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.819 it plays out. He says, you guys build an altar 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:15.460 to your God, and I will build an altar to the 00:17:15.460 --> 00:17:20.329 God, and you guys cry out. Ask your God to answer 00:17:20.329 --> 00:17:23.490 and set your altar on fire. I'll ask my God and 00:17:23.490 --> 00:17:26.410 see who answers. And whoever answers is the winner. 00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:31.710 So the false prophets of Baal, they set up an 00:17:31.710 --> 00:17:35.369 altar. They cry out to God all day long. It says 00:17:35.369 --> 00:17:38.849 that after a while, they had been crying so loudly 00:17:38.849 --> 00:17:41.710 and so longly that they started hurting themselves. 00:17:42.950 --> 00:17:45.970 Trying to get... this God's attention. They started 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:49.130 abusing their bodies, just trying to get this 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:51.289 God to listen to them. And then it says that 00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:53.930 Elijah, sitting over here, is like, hey guys, 00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:59.349 maybe he's taking a nap. It's legit. Go read 00:17:59.349 --> 00:18:05.009 it. He starts just straight cold mocking them. 00:18:06.349 --> 00:18:10.809 Oh guys, maybe he's on vacation. Picked the wrong 00:18:10.809 --> 00:18:16.730 time. And after all day, Obviously, this God 00:18:16.730 --> 00:18:19.650 does not answer. So he builds an altar out of 00:18:19.650 --> 00:18:25.470 stone. Like the woman at the gate, he tells them 00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:30.690 to collect wood for the fire. And like the widow, 00:18:30.769 --> 00:18:34.930 he asks for water. And he says, bring water and 00:18:34.930 --> 00:18:38.410 douse the entire thing. They dug a moat around 00:18:38.410 --> 00:18:41.670 the altar and they doused the thing three different 00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:45.460 times. And the moat... filled up with water. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:49.759 He saturated the offering, the wood, the stones, 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:52.519 all of it with water so that there would be no 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:56.339 chance that something or someone else had done 00:18:56.339 --> 00:19:02.680 that. He stands back and he prays a simple prayer. 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.160 God, answer my prayer today so that your people 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.440 will turn their hearts back to you. And immediately 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:13.240 fire strikes the altar consuming everything. 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.900 Not just the offering, not just the wood, not 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:21.539 just the stone, but evaporates all of the water 00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:24.680 into thin air, leaving no doubt whose God is 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:28.839 alive and whose God is worthy. All the false 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:31.559 prophets were put to death. God brings back the 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.380 rain, and the people have the opportunity to 00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:40.980 bring back their hearts to God. When that fire 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:43.180 fell on that altar, it wasn't just about proving 00:19:43.829 --> 00:19:47.269 but all wrong. It was about calling a nation 00:19:47.269 --> 00:19:53.569 back to God. It wasn't just about proving that 00:19:53.569 --> 00:19:56.109 that's fake and the wrong thing to follow. It 00:19:56.109 --> 00:19:59.730 was about calling people back from their wandering 00:19:59.730 --> 00:20:09.829 to save them from their sins. To call them back 00:20:09.829 --> 00:20:15.539 to a God that is real. Instead of following a 00:20:15.539 --> 00:20:21.079 wicked, wicked king. In James, verse 15 and 16, 00:20:21.140 --> 00:20:23.240 it says, anyone who's committed sins will be 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:30.940 forgiven. Hear that. Anyone, anyone will be forgiven. 00:20:31.099 --> 00:20:34.160 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:35.619 pray for one another so that you may be healed. 00:20:35.740 --> 00:20:38.460 See, some people know when they've done something 00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:40.960 wrong and that it's time to say they're sorry. 00:20:42.339 --> 00:20:45.450 Some people know. When they've done something 00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:47.950 wrong and it's time to turn their hearts fully 00:20:47.950 --> 00:20:51.950 back to God. They know when it's time for them 00:20:51.950 --> 00:20:55.710 to come home so that they do not abandon their 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:57.710 God and follow a wicked king. But when verse 00:20:57.710 --> 00:21:00.710 20 says, whoever brings back a sinner from wandering 00:21:00.710 --> 00:21:02.410 will save the sinner's soul from death and will 00:21:02.410 --> 00:21:04.809 cover multitude of sins. James knows that some 00:21:04.809 --> 00:21:12.269 people don't know. They need someone to tell 00:21:12.269 --> 00:21:19.920 them. Over and over again, in the scriptures, 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:24.180 God does this for his people and for the world. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:28.099 He tells us. He shows us. He confronts the leaders 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:32.440 that have led us away, doesn't he? Doesn't he? 00:21:33.819 --> 00:21:39.200 Ultimately, Jesus, the perfect image and presence, 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:43.240 fullness of God, became human like us to show 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:49.109 us, to bring us. Home, like Elijah. Jesus confronted 00:21:49.109 --> 00:21:54.329 the powers of his age. Not with violence, but 00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:59.349 with his broken body. Not with abuse, but comfort 00:21:59.349 --> 00:22:05.210 for the healing that had been hurting. Not with 00:22:05.210 --> 00:22:10.990 a sword, but with love. See, Jesus became the 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:23.890 altar. The offering on a cross. The sticks. The 00:22:23.890 --> 00:22:28.630 wood for the offering. Confronting the false 00:22:28.630 --> 00:22:34.089 gods that we have worshipped. And confronting 00:22:34.089 --> 00:22:40.269 the leaders who led us there. Jesus was not consumed 00:22:40.269 --> 00:22:47.349 by fire. But he was crushed under the weight 00:22:47.349 --> 00:22:53.369 of our sin. So that there would be nothing left 00:22:53.369 --> 00:23:01.450 to keep us from coming home. We are a church. 00:23:03.309 --> 00:23:05.789 As a church, we have always said that we are 00:23:05.789 --> 00:23:10.670 here to call prodigals home, to adopt the spiritually 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:14.769 homeless. And part of that is confronting the 00:23:14.769 --> 00:23:17.430 powers that have led them away from God in the 00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:29.190 first place. Listen. Listen with ears to hear. 00:23:31.789 --> 00:23:34.130 Elijah prayed and it did not rain three and a 00:23:34.130 --> 00:23:39.789 half years. In our country. We have three and 00:23:39.789 --> 00:23:41.690 a half years left in this current president's 00:23:41.690 --> 00:23:47.150 term. And I pray the people do not suffer the 00:23:47.150 --> 00:23:50.250 way that the Israelites did for the sins of their 00:23:50.250 --> 00:23:53.890 king as they followed their king into idolatry. 00:23:54.769 --> 00:23:57.970 I pray that the people of this country, that 00:23:57.970 --> 00:24:00.910 the Christians in your neighborhood will not 00:24:00.910 --> 00:24:10.660 fall into despair by following. Anything that 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:19.400 would lead them away from Jesus Christ. I can 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:30.880 see it the same way. The same way that the prophets 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.039 of Baal hurt themselves for a false god to get 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:38.000 the attention of a god that had no real power. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:42.519 that did not actually care about them, that today 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:46.819 so many are hurting themselves for empty leadership, 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:56.920 for empty and abusive power, for an authority 00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:06.339 that cannot bring the rain back. It will not 00:25:06.339 --> 00:25:12.700 listen. It will not bring the rain back. I look 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:15.799 around and it feels like desert. It feels like 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:17.980 drought. It feels like the loudest Christian 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:21.180 voices in our country are the voices approving 00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:29.599 cruelty. Cruelty. So much of American Christianity 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:33.859 has wandered off to worship. the gods of presidents, 00:25:33.980 --> 00:25:37.539 instead of the God that is Father, Son, and Holy 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:42.759 Spirit. And I hope that we will be like Elijah, 00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:46.619 that we will trust that if we speak, that God 00:25:46.619 --> 00:25:54.200 will feed us. I hope that this church, the individuals, 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:58.880 the entity, the community, the family, I hope 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:01.240 that we will be like Jesus, that we will use 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:04.619 our voices to confront the leaders that worship 00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:07.779 empty idols that lead their people into drought 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:16.660 and famine. Because there are widows. They will 00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:27.079 need food. There will be sick sons that will 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:37.609 need healing. It's a timeless truth that as the 00:26:37.609 --> 00:26:44.170 leader goes, so goes the people. And so we, we, 00:26:44.269 --> 00:26:53.930 we must follow Jesus. We, we must follow Jesus. 00:26:54.849 --> 00:27:00.509 Say it with me. We must follow Jesus. Amen.