Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Opening Question
Let’s start with a fun Would You Rather binary question! Would you rather have tickets to the World Cup Finals but your seats are behind a giant pillar and you can’t see the field or the screen for the entire game, OR go on a one week vacation to the city of your choice but you must wear the same outfit every day and night and it can never be laundered?
The Hopping People
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
“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. 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.”
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.– 1 Kings 18:16-21
In the sermon, Pastor Morgan shared that the word opinion is the Hebrew word, “se’if”, and can also be translated “thought”, a “branch,” or a “crevice”. Hebrew scholar Robert Alter translates this sentence like this:
“How long will you keep hopping between two crevices?”
Why do you think people so often struggle to worship God alone as the Israelites do here in 1 Kings?
Has there been a time you have chosen God above everything else? What helped you make that decision?
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
– James 1:5-8
What warning does this passage offer a person struggling to believe in God alone? What assurance does it offer the one who believes in God alone?
The Dancing Prophets
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 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. 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.”
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.– 1 Kings 18:22-29
Baal worship allowed people to make anything they chose into an idol that they could then worship. Here in 1 Kings, we witness the prophets of Baal performing for their idols to save themselves.
While the prophets here chose to worship idols consciously, in our modern secular society, we often unconsciously create idols when we try to save ourselves through our own performance, success, or popularity/acceptance.
What do you think appeals to us most about these kinds of self-salvation?
How does worshiping God above idols require greater vulnerability than earning our salvation by following the rules perfectly, achieving more, or pleasing people?
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
– Matthew 11:28-30
Consider the rest Jesus offers to us when we come to him as Lord. Is there anything you need to lay down so that you can receive his rest?
The Falling Fire
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
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.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”– 1 Kings 18:30-39
What do you imagine the people witnessing this scene felt and thought when the fire consumed the bull, the wood, the stones, the soil, and all the water?
Have you ever seen God do something that seemed impossible? How did witnessing that miracle impact you?
Is there anything miraculous you need God to do in your life or in the life of someone you know?
Closing Thought
In your final time together, pray for one another, taking extra time to ask God for any miraculous needs that were shared in the final question above.