1 King 18: There are no other Gods

One man stands on a mountain and asks a question that still exposes us: how long will you keep wavering between God and whatever else you’re trusting? We walk through 1 Kings 18 at Mount Carmel, where Elijah faces 450 prophets of Baal and sets up a test that makes the outcome unmistakable. It’s not a story about religious hype. It’s a story about the God who answers, the danger of divided allegiance, and the mercy that keeps pursuing people who keep drifting.

We get painfully practical about modern idolatry and why it never stays “harmless.” When sex, pornography, substances, money, work, rest, family, sports, or entertainment become ultimate, they start to hollow out our joy and warp our loves. Elijah’s words push us to choose, not because God wants control, but because idols kill and God wants our whole heart. Along the way, we talk about what it looks like to hold boundaries with compassion during real-life disruption, and why the church must be both safe and honest about addiction, weakness, and need.

Then the sermon turns to two promises we all need: God specializes in the impossible, and God works on his timeline. From water-soaked sacrifices to long seasons of waiting for rain, the pattern is the same: God often acts in ways that leave no doubt it was him. We close with the hope of the gospel, where we don’t cut ourselves to earn attention, because Jesus has already given himself for us. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s on the fence, and leave a review if it helped you trust Jesus more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the City Life Church podcast. We hope it encourages you. If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org. And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.

The Unfair Fight With God

Taunting Baal And Silent Idols

A Personal Story About Waiting

Promise One Choose God Fully

Modern Idols That Destroy Us

Promise Two God Does Impossible

Disruption And Boundaries With Love

Fire From Heaven And Hard Justice

Weakness Addiction And God’s Power

Promise Three God’s Timing And Rain

The Gospel And A Clear Invitation

SPEAKER_01 0:31

We're going to be in 1 Kings 1820. 1 Kings 18 20. You can look it up in your Bible. But if you don't have a nice Bible, we have nice Bibles here that we would love to give you. And we have nice Bibles on that side and nice Bibles on that side. And the only thing we ask is that you put your name on it and that you read it. We have them in multiple languages, and let me get to that. I hope you have your Bibles there. If you don't know where it is, you can look at the table of contents and we're good. No shame in that. So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Then Elijah approached all the people and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, follow him. But the people didn't answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Now it's interesting here if you know this scripture, you know that there were actually a hundred prophets of the Lord that were in hiding, but he's not about to snitch on them. But also I really must point out something here. This was an unfair fight. Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal versus Elijah and the creator of the heavens and the earth. That's not a fair fight. A billion versus God isn't a fair fight, is it? It's like, say I was gonna get into a fight with someone, which I don't get into fights anymore, God willing. Um but say the rock came at me with his dog, and say his dog was like a big pit bull, right? Like that's the rock, and that's a pit. Um, but the thing is, is if I have a full-grown African lion with me, he might have a pit bull, but it the the lion more than makes up for it. It's not a fair fight anymore. If I have Mufasa on my side, it's not fair anymore. It doesn't matter how strong you are, it doesn't matter how strong your dog is. Uh it in the same way, it didn't matter how weak Elijah was or how weak you feel, it it will always feel like an unfair fight to others if God is on your side. So in verse 23, Elijah said, Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bowl for themselves, cut it to pieces, place it on the wood, but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bowl and place it in the wood, but not light the fire. Then you call in the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord, the God who answers with fire, he is God. And all the people said, That's fine. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Since you guys are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bowl, prepare first. Then call on the name of your God, but don't light the fire. So they took the bowl that he gave them, prepared it, called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, Baal, answer us. But there was no sound. No one answered. Then they danced around the altar that they had made. So it's from the morning now to noon. Elijah mocked them. He said, Hey, shout loudly, for he's a god. Maybe he's just like thinking it over. Maybe he has wandered away. Maybe he's on the road. Perhaps he's sleeping. He'll wake up. They shouted loudly, cut themselves with knives and spears according to their custom until blood gushed all over them. All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound, no one answered, no one paid attention. Now I'm gonna stop here for a second and say, like Elijah might need a yellow card or like a technical for a little bit of taunting here. I don't know if if you feel that way too, because when I studied this, Elijah is actually much more disrespectful than you might even think. When he is saying maybe Baal has wandered away, um, there's there's actually a Jewish idiom for like wandering away, going to the side. It's a Jewish idiom for guess what? It's pooping. That's okay. I'm just reading you the Bible, guys, okay? Like Elijah just accused their God of being unable to help because poop. Also, he's probably drawing attention to the fact that Baal is the one who is known as the God who rains lightning. And Baal is supposed to bring rain. But if you have been with us before, you know that God has shut the clouds for over three years now. Nothing. Baal must be off in the facilities. Now Elijah's been hiding from these people for so long, waiting for God to flex. In God's time, he was fed by nasty ravens in a dried out river, and he's just been on the run forever. But what's crazy here is Elijah is super taunty at a certain time though, okay? He's sarcastic before God has a chance to speak his peace. Like, can you can you imagine the trust that is going on here in this moment? Like before God, it's like you're playing football and your defense stops the other team. You haven't scored yet, and you start mocking them. Like, dude, your offense still has to go. Like, but you're so confident. And Elijah has seen some things, man. Like, it has all led up to this, this moment. Now, now let me just ask this real quick because this is gonna help me a little bit. Um, I just need you to raise your hand. In the first service, nobody raised their hand confidently at this. It was just all like this, like down below where no one can see. Was anyone else like a chubby kid growing up? Yes, okay. I see some hands in the air. Thank you, thank you. I was a chubby kid, okay? Like in fourth grade, I had just moved from Los Angeles to San Diego. And yeah, Buddhist Los Angeles. All right. But I moved to San Diego and the kids teased me. They teased me because I was chubby. They also teased me because I had an ultimate warrior wrestling backpack. And while I was partially chubby because I love tater tots and cereal like all day long, um, while I was just I would just sit there, eat tater tots with a ton of ketchup and eat cereal and just watch Stay by the Bell and Family Matters until my parents got home. Um, but I was also due for a growth spurt. So in fourth grade, um, when I started to grow, I started to get bigger and more toned. And and you know, like Elijah, I was rubbing that in. Like I had waited all this time while these kids were laughing at me, and then one day I was bigger than them. Now, in the same way, this was Elijah's moment. No more hiding. He he knew what was about to happen because God already told him and he trusted God. This was what he had been waiting for, but more than any pettiness or saltiness, like I want you to see his trust for God here. It all happened before God responded. And and we will get into that, but first let me just pray for us, okay? Father, we are grateful for you this day. For you sending your son, for pursuing us, for saving us, and yet if we are honest, we we forget really easily and we just chase after other stuff. We forget to hope. We lack trust in you. We lack patience in you. We see the 450 challenging your word, and we forget how you, just you, you are enough. God, I ask today that you would make our faith strong and resilient. That you would teach us this morning. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. Alright, so the stage had been set. We would call it the fight in the heights. Um, we would call it the chaos in Carmel. Um, hey Jimmer, I need you to stay seated, okay? And and try to be not too loud. I'm glad you're here. Just try to stay a little quieter. Thank you, Jimmer. Appreciate you. Um, it was the fight in the heights. It was the chaos at Carmel. Um, I love fight names. I don't love fights, but I just love those kind of thriller and manila kind of names. And it was about to happen, and Elijah was finally getting to show where the true God was and who the true God was and what the true God was about. And with this great moment in the Bible, I'm going to give you three promises from Elijah's bedlam at the boulders. All right, three promises from Elijah's bedlam at the boulders. And my first promise is this you cannot chase both God and sin. Choose God and you will thrive. You cannot chase both God and sin, choose God and you will thrive. God has something so much better for you guys. Verse 20 said, So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Then Elijah approached all the people and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him. But the people didn't answer him a word. So are the people showing great faith here? No. No. The people of Israel were supposed to be God's chosen people, his cherished treasure, but rather than embrace God, they had been denying him for quite some time. They chose fake gods like Baal. And the reason why everyone loves fake gods is that fake gods will always tell you everything that you want to hear. Exactly whatever you want to hear. That's what your fake God is gonna tell you. Now, um, I'm gonna talk about a few fake gods today, and I'm probably gonna make some of you uncomfortable. Um, just know that we all have them and we all have to confront the fake gods in our life. So in 2023, Pornhub reported over two billion monthly visits. Pornography takes something beautiful, something God created, which is sex, and makes it about you. You can consume other people for your own gratification, but it's a trap. It ruins your relationships, it rewires your brain for selfishness. Now, the asherahs, the Baal worship that was going on at this time with Elijah was often intertwined with sex and fertility worship. Sex may be the God that you think you want, but it's not the God who knows what we need because I don't kill. Now, there are no credible numbers about how much human trafficking is involved in pornography, but if you are watching, um, it's likely you are watching some people who are, quote, performing against their will, someone's child. Also, a large study in 2021 showed that prolonged consumption of pornography led to performance issues in marriage and a higher rate of dissatisfaction in marriage. It's an idol designed to destroy you. And I know some of you might be like, why are we talking about this in church? We should absolutely be talking about these things in church. We tend to say, Oh, let that be talked about somewhere else, but God has something to say about everything in our life, and he has a better plan for all of us. Guys, an idol is designed to destroy you. Now, there are plenty of people who would tell you that your idol, whatever it is, friends, is harmless. Who will tell you what you want to hear about liquor, about pornography, about weed and money. But it's not only those things. An idol is often a good thing that competes with God for your love. So while sex is a good thing made by God to unite you with your spouse in a spiritual way, but when you're just considering marriage with someone and you have sex with them, you'll be united with them in a way that causes you to believe you have something deeper than you really do with them. And you're picking a different side from God. But the good news is there's always forgiveness if you turn to him and repent. Now, now sex has was made to bless marriage, not force it. Idols kill, and so we pick a side. So how about this? Let's pick some things that are a little less um, yeah. Work. Work is a good thing. We can agree that it's something God has called us to do, but we go too far, don't we? We work crazy hours, we fail to rest. Failure to see our family in the name of work shows that work becomes an idol. Or maybe this one on the other side: rest. Rest is a good thing that God made. But we tend to disobey God's commands on gathering with the church and making church community a priority because we need to rest. We need to seek our peace. Someone else is there that we don't really like. So, how easily can work, can rest, can family become an idol in your life, friends? But that's how idols work, don't they? Yes, it can be bad things, but it can also be good things, just made ultimate, friends. Now, God tells us to choose between him and those things, because idols kill and we pick a side. So the question is this. The question is this, who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to God or are you going to listen to an idol? That is the question. Now, Dr. Tony Evans, he says this. He says, You can't have God and the world. There is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to the true God and his demand for exclusive worship. Now, here God was speaking through Elijah to people who were likely going to temple prostitutes. Like sexual sin was actually their religion. Now let me ask you guys this. Have you noticed in most most American churches that dudes attend church services at a lower clip than women? In the majority of churches, this is a very common thing in the United States. Um, now imagine if religion meant cultic prostitution. Do you think attendance might be a little bit different? Like, Pastor, God really put it on my heart to be a part of this church. And we would have like eight services, right? Like, but would these folks actually believe in that? No. No, no. But it would center them, it would center their desires, and then you would have terrible relationships, women would be mistreated and abused, and everyone would have sexually transmitted diseases. See, when you get the idol that you want, you often find it was never good in the first place. It was never good for you, it never loved you. And so I, like Isaiah, want to ask, how long will we ride the fence with God? Like God has already stopped the rain for three years and raised the dead, but many in Israel refuse to listen, and now Jesus himself is raised from the dead, but some still doubt. We can't be in two camps at once. God wants all of our heart. God compares the church to a wife, to a bride. But I've never met a good husband who wants his wife chasing after other men. God wants all of your heart. Pick a side, all in, all out. Now, I know some of you in the room would listen to this and go, man, those Christians, they are fanatics. They are nuts, man. They're crazy. But let me just tell you this. Um, those crazy Christians that are all in, those are regular Christians. They're students, they're apprentices of Jesus, they're disciples of Jesus. Jesus wants our entire lives. And if you don't want to give him your life, do you actually want Jesus? Friends, you can take the world, but give me Jesus. He wants all of you because he loves you. He designed you to be in community with him and his church. He actually made you to be all in with him. Now let me just say, um, there are Padre fans, and I'm a big Padre fan, who make the Padres everything for them. They are ride or die with a company that just wants to make as much money off them as possible. That is what it is. Now I've seen those City Connect jerseys, they are fire and they are$200 for the very basic one. And they think that we're just gonna go ahead and buy those jerseys, and then the problem is we will, right? Like they're super cool. Um, but the thing is, like, while I'll save up and buy one, maybe, I don't know, it can't be my everything. The Padres can't be my everything. Or how about this? When I was a kid, no, when I wasn't a kid, when my wife and I were first married, that's I mean I was young. Uh we lived in Orange County. And in Orange County, there was a really interesting phenomenon. It's Disney people. Now, I'm not talking about people who like Disneyland, okay? I'm talking about Disney people. Like, I'm not even talking about Disney fans, I'm talking about Disney people, okay? When we lived in Orange County, there were people who were covered in like Disney buttons, who like their car was covered in Disney stickers, who went to Disneyland every day, who like built their identity on Disneyland. It was wild, and it's crazy because I mean at the time we could go for$100 a year as like our past. Now it's like$100 a day is not enough to get you in. But like those people were devoted to to where buying every goofy hat that was available, right? And people would have the nerve to call Christians fanatics. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. We're all in with Jesus to love, to care for those who are hurting. Those people want to wear more goofy hats and buy more things. They they they are all in on a corporation that has only one desire, it's to make money off them. Friends, take the world but give me Jesus. People can all be, people can be all in on the Padres, on their school, on kids' sports, on Disneyland. There are people who follow bands all over the world, but they don't really get the same hate that Christians do when they're all in. Possibly because sometimes when Christians get all in, they're actually like still really selfish and mean. Um, we're not talking about that either, okay? Guys, if you want to follow Jesus fully, you're not gonna be a fan, but you're gonna be a religious fanatic to some people. Guys, if you're gonna be all in on anything, why not the God of the universe? He is the only one who won't let you down. Now in Revelations 3:15 through 16, it says, I know your works. These are the words of Jesus, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. Now, what's really interesting is the people of that of that um Asian um city were receiving water through pipes that would come in. And by the time it got to them, it it was formerly hot. By the time it got to them, it'd be lukewarm. Now, let me ask you this. If you're having water in the ancient times, is it safer to have lukewarm water or super hot water? Super hot. If you're trying to have water, is it safer to have lukewarm water or super cold water? Super cold. Jesus is saying, because this is where disease is, when you're not in on one side or the other, you're just sitting in the middle. Now, Charles Swindalhi says divided allegiance is as wrong as open idolatry. Divided allegiance is as wrong as open idolatry. Now, our God is jealous, but that's not a bad thing. He calls his church his bride, and he adores her. But he's not about to be with a bride who sleeps around on the side. He is jealous for our hearts, and that's a good thing because God loves his family, he does things for us that no one else can do, unbelievable things, and that's where we get our second promise from Elijah's bedlam at the boulders. And our promise is this God specializes in the impossible. God specializes in the impossible. Verse 30. Then Elijah said to all the people, Hey Jimmer, man, maybe come back next week and don't do this today, please. I really I love when you're here, but you're being more disruptive today. And can you come back next week instead? Come back without drinking? Dude, we love you, but we we can't give you too many more chances. I mean, would you be willing to come back next week instead? I'll come pray with you after I'll come pray with you after the service. I'll come bring you stuff from the food pantry, but this is we just we can't do this. We can't keep doing it. You know we love you. I know that sometimes sometimes when you've been drinking, it's just harder to to to stay focused and it can get disruptive. We you know we love you, we care about you. But can you go today? And then we'll bring you stuff if you need it. Okay, so we love you, man, but you have to leave today. Guys, um, we try to err on the side of kindness to people. We want to give them as many chances as possible, and we really do love Jimmer. Um, but uh there's just times when uh we have to have boundaries. And um Jimmer, Jimmer, you know we care about you. Would you please go today? These people care about you, they're not trying to hurt you. We don't want to call the police. So, Father, I just pray your blessing um on this situation. Um, I know that you care about Jimmer, um, but I know that he uh is not in a good place right now. Um I pray that you would uh uh watch over what's happening, um keep keep everyone here safe. Um Lord, we love him. God, I pray that you would give him freedom from his addiction. Um we know that uh there are many things that are tormenting him, and uh God, I pray that he would still feel like this is a safe place, but I pray that we would know how to have proper boundaries with him. Bless Jimmer and God, if he's tormented by anything that is not of you, we pray that you would protect him this day. Though we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I don't know where I am. I haven't been listening to myself for the last five minutes, so we'll see how that's going. God specializes in the impossible is our second point. And guys, you're gonna see that the way the way this text goes and where we go with this is gonna actually speak to this situation. Okay? So verse thirty, then Elijah said to all the people, Come near me. So all the people approached him, then he repaired the Lord's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel will be your name. And he built an altar with the stones in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold about four gallons. Next he arranged the wood, cut up the bowl, and placed it on the wood. He said, Fill four water pots with water, and pour it on the offering to be burned and on the wood. Then he said a second time, and they did it a second time, and then he said a third time and they did a third time. God, I w guys, I want you to see how impossible this is. Just impossible. So what is so crazy about what has just happened? Besides the obvious that it's really hard to start a fire with that much water. They dumped twelve water pots, which is symbolism for the twelve tribes of Israel. But have you considered this, friends? Twelve huge pots of water during a three year drought. Elijah was that confident that God was going to rain down water. So verse 35, the water ran all around the altar, filled the trench with water. At the time the offering, the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and he said, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel, and I am your servant, and that at your word I have done all these things. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that you, the Lord our God, and that you are the Lord our God, and that you have turned their hearts back. Then the Lord's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell face down and said, The Lord, He is God. Then Elijah ordered them, seize the prophets of Baal, do not even let one of them escape. So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and slaughtered them there. Now we should talk about this. Elijah slaughtered the false prophets. And I just if you're like me, when you're reading the Bible for the first time, you go, uh-uh, I don't like that. It sounds harsh, I don't know about you guys, but unless you consider what they're doing. Now these false prophets likely sacrificed children to the fake gods. They took over the Lord's temple, used sexual symbols, and did sexual acts in the Lord's temple, likely abusing women here. And God had enough of their abuse and enough of their lies. God often has a stronger punishment for those who lead people astray. And in the Bible, it even says that, like those of us who preach, those of us who speak, we will be judged more harshly. It's pretty terrifying. It should be. It's a sacred responsibility for your pastors and those who preach. These fake shepherds paid with their lives, but also God allowed the people to live. Like what a beautiful sign of God's pursuit of his people. Like, do you see that? The people were afraid of King Ahab and his wife, but they still made their choice to embrace the selfish, sensual, fake worship of Baal and the Asheras. And in their disobedience, God still pursued them with miracles. Miracles they did not deserve. The altar of God had been so neglected on Mount Carmel that Elijah had to repair it, rebuild it. That's not a good sign. It had been bad for a long time. And still God answered. You see, God wants our prayers. He loves answering impossible situations. But sometimes, like this, sometimes he will act when you have no faith. Just a tiny bit of faith. Sometimes you feel like you are uh are finally getting a break, and then something or someone pour water on your plants, like you get sick after all that. Your business partner steals from you, your car breaks down, your wife leaves you. It sounds like a country song, right? But God loves to work when it can only be traced back to Him. Yes, fine. Pour water on the altar. My God is bigger. Have you guys ever tried to burn branches on a tree that like is like a week old? Like, man, it just turns into smoke, it doesn't burn. But instead, they were pouring water on top of water, on top of water, because Elijah wanted everyone to know this is the Lord. No one else can make this happen. If you uh have a wet blanket over your plans right now, friends, God may have something impossible planned for you, something even better, but you're gonna have to trust him. Now, 12 years ago, when we started praying about planting a church amongst the urban poor in San Diego, people said to me a couple things. Number one, nobody wants another church in San Diego. Number two, if you plant your church in the hood, it will never be supported. You will never have enough money to make it. And you know, they were right. We couldn't do that, but here's the thing um that's how we knew it was God, because he did it. And we still can't, but our God provides. Like, I have old friends who will call me, they'll be like, hey man, haven't talked to you in seven years, but felt like God told me to donate something to your church. I'm like, what? We've been talked in seven years. That's the first thing that we're gonna talk about? Yeah, I couldn't go to sleep. And it'll be like a check that I'm like, seriously, that much? Yes, absolutely. God told me. Like, guys, we don't we can't manufacture that, can we? We just have to trust God. Um, someone got a raise and they decided to give back to God by sending it to us. Someone that I don't even I I've had people send checks to us, we don't even know them. I once had strangers in Mount Hope show up at my house, knock on the door, and say, I heard you guys have a uh like a footlocker that you give away shoes to your neighborhood in Mount Hope. And I said, Yeah, and they're like, Hey, I work for a shoe company in Los Angeles. Um, we got like a hundred pairs of new shoes. Like, would that be alright? See, the bigger the obstacle, the bigger God works. And it's like he wants us to know that we didn't do it. There was once an apostle of Jesus, and his name was Paul. He prayed and he prayed that God would remove a struggle in his life. He called it a thorn in his side. But this is what he said in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, God told him, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about my weakness, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and difficulty for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Friends, are you messed up somehow? Do you have a disability? Are you bad with people? Have you struggled with addiction all your life? Is your marriage a mess? Yeah, thank you. That might cause you to feel weak, it might cause you to feel insignificant, but guess what? I am convinced that God wants to use your life for his glory even more. Because when he uses you in all that weakness, people are gonna ask, how? How did God do so much through them? And then it will draw them back to God. Now, I love the story of the man in the graveyard, the man that met Jesus, and he was there in the graveyard doing all kinds of weird stuff, and he was cutting himself, and he was breaking chains like he was on PCP or something. And Jesus came and freed him from the demons that were tormenting him. And the Bible says that he was sitting there in his right mind. In his right mind. So, what did he say to Jesus? He said, Jesus, can I come with you? I want to follow you. Wherever you go, I'll go. And Jesus says, No. Like when you read that, you're like, What, Jesus? Like you just healed this guy, he wants to follow you. Why are you saying no to him? Well, there's a good reason. Jesus said, Go home. Go to your people, go to your family. Why do you think that was? Because this man who was in our service today, not in a good place. He's known around our community. There's other people who tend to cuss me out during my sermons that are from this community that come drunk or high, and sometimes we have to ask them to leave. Friends, can you imagine all the people who saw them, who saw that, and see them in their right mind, praising God, what that's gonna do for God's kingdom? Like one day I believe truly and I love him and I want to see it. I can't do the work for him, but I believe that Jimmer is gonna be delivered. I believe that some of our friends who come in here that just can't even put one foot in front of the next, that they're gonna be delivered. And they will have more to say about the goodness of God than we do. They will have more to say about what they've been delivered from, they will have more to say about what weakness they have overcome. Some of you, it's a little more hidden, which means you're just gonna have to be more honest and say, This is what God has brought me from. You didn't see it, but this is what was happening. Friends, it is in our weakness that God is made strong. It's seen as strong. God is praised as strong. Jesus freed this man from his demons, and he needed to go home and tell everybody, This is where I was, and this is where I am. People who knew this man needed to see that miracle. And I believe that one day, maybe him, maybe not, will be a giant of our faith, and he will be able to tell more people about Jesus because of where he's been. And I have people in the room that have told me they were him. They were on the streets. They had some people come and pray over them and they were delivered, and now they praise God. And I'm thankful that you're here, and I'm also thankful for your honesty because more people can know Jesus because of your honesty. Friends, oh, here's my notes. There are still people who join us on Sundays. Listen to these notes right here. Listen to these notes. There are still people who join us on Sundays, still messing with meth, fentanyl, heroin, shrimp, crack, and lovely. And I believe when they are finally delivered by God, they will be giants of faith that will get an instant audience with anyone who saw them before. I felt like the Holy Spirit might have written that. God loves the unlikely. God loves the long odds, the impossible, because it reveals to us that he is God. You can trust Jesus. You can trust he loves you and has your best interest at heart. You can trust he cares for you. But let's be real, when you look around and you see the suffering, when you are suffering and you're waiting for your season, you can start to think that God is more like Baal, fake. Is he even listening? Is he in the bathroom? Where is he? But that's not how our God works. You may think he's not listening, but actually he is patient. He's not taunting you, he's just working on his own time. This is our third promise from Elijah's bedlam at the boulders. God works on his timeline. God works on his timeline. Verse 41, Elijah said to Ahab, Go up and drink, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a rainstorm. Did he hear the sound, guys? I don't think so. So he was using hyperbole, I think. So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bent down on the ground and put his face between his knees. Does that sound like somebody who just won a victory? Face between the knees? My back hurts, I can't even re redo it. But like he sounds like someone who is exhausted. Then he said to his servant, Go up and look toward the sea. So he went and looked and said, There's nothing. Seven times Elijah said, Go back. On the seventh time he reported, There's a cloud as small as a man's hand coming up from the sea. Then Elijah said, Go tell Ahab, get your chariot ready, go down, so the rain doesn't stop you. In a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a downpour. So Ahab got in his chariot and went to Jezreel. The power of the Lord was on Elijah, he tucked his mantle under his belt and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. So this man's been trying to kill him this whole time, and he's like, Hey man, go ahead, which is crazy. But the rain was finally on its way. After years and years and years of drought, God had finally defeated Baal, and the people would know this rain was not from Baal, but they could be sure it was from our God. Now, friends, God is not blessing some of you because he knows you won't give him glory for it. Let me rephrase that. There are things in my life where God won't bless me because he knows I will take the glory for myself. If God gave us all the things we wanted when we wanted them, we would drop him like a hot pocket. And so he's patient, friends. But now, nobody would doubt that God sent the rain. Baal was eradicated and his evil prophets were gone. But the waiting for this moment, for those prophets in the cave that were hidden while their brothers were murdered by the king and queen, I bet that felt like a very long time, don't you think? And now finally they could be free. And so can you, friends. God's deliverance usually is different than our plans. And he moves at a totally different pace than we want him to. Like we want Uber Eats in our lap now. We keep creating ways for the drive-thru at In N Out in Chick-fil-A to be faster. Like Amazon can deliver within the hour. And if something is coming in a week, we don't know what to do. I don't know if some of you guys uh had Amazon during COVID and it was like 2020, and I was like, I'm just gonna buy me some toilet paper. Everybody's running around searching for toilet paper, and it's like, we'll get it to you in June. I'm like, what? The world had changed, right? Like suddenly we knew what it was like to be dependent. Of course, God moves too slow for people like that, for people like me. Can you imagine if our internets were as slow as they were 10 years ago? What would we do? Yeah, I said internets. But our God is eternal and he goes at his pace, not ours. Your impatience doesn't make him go faster and it doesn't make him insecure. Your distrust doesn't make God insecure. He will do things his way on his timeline because he knows best. It's really easy to say from a stage. But if I were Elijah and crows had been feeding me nasty food in the wadi, I might have questioned God and I'd have been wrong. Some of you have been waiting for God to deliver you from your addiction and your abuse. Some of you have had treatment for your illness six times. Some of you have tried so many things to help you sleep at night, but nothing is working. Some of you just want a boyfriend or a husband that leads your family towards Jesus. Some of you are just tired of life. And you've gone to God again and again and again. What if he just wants you to come to him one more time? Just one more prayer. Think about how slow God really is. From the beginning, he had a plan to redeem us. The beginning. He knew what our relationship, what our relationship would be like, and he created a plan to save us. Isaiah prophesied about a child being born to rescue us 700 years before he was born. Where the government would rest upon his shoulders, where his name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That was 700 years before he was born. That's longer than we've been a country. And they just waited for the consolation of Israel, for the Savior to finally set them free from Roman oppression. But Jesus came to destroy something bigger than Rome. He came to deliver us from sin, from death, from the devil. And this is the beautiful thing about the gospel that God has always pursued us. He has always looked after us. When you were in the floor, when you were being escorted away from a church building, when you were being kicked, when you were being beaten, when you're being hurt by others, when you're being lied to, mistrusted, he was still pursuing you. When you were chasing after whatever you could get at the casinos or with women or with men or anything else, he was still pursuing you because he loved you. He came to this earth and his whole life was a love letter to you. That Jesus came to this earth and lived a perfect life that we could never live as his enemies. And the Bible does describe us as enemies. And the first time somebody said that to me, I was like, get out of my face. I'm not an enemy of God. I help old ladies across the street. But the thing is, is that even though we were his enemies, it says not only did he make us okay with him, the Bible says that he adopts us into his family and we become co-heirs with his son Jesus. That's the beauty of the gospel. That when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he rose again for on the third day, defeating sin and death, proving that he can save us. But guys, we don't have to cut ourselves to get God's blessing like the prophets of Baal. Actually, our God cut himself on our behalf, or at least bled on our behalf, and he got our attention, I hope. And so, friends, if you were able to hear anything in this message where I heard only half of it, while you sit in your semi-comfortable church chairs, I ask you this question how long must you ride the fence with God instead of riding with God? God stopped the rain and he raised the dead, but many in Israel still refuse to listen to him. And now Jesus is raised from the dead, but some of us doubt. The time is late and we still scratch our chin, waiting for the right window. Now is the right time. He only offers you blessing and forgiveness. He offers you the greatest gift on the planet. Don't allow your idols to drag you to death. Give your life to the one who defeated death. It's time to put your hope in the only one who can give you the freedom you need most. So I encourage you to trust Jesus. And if you've never given your life to Jesus, find one of us. We will pray with you. We will help you however we can. We will do something called discipling you. We will baptize you, whatever it is. We will help you along. And we don't have all the answers, but we can get you to the feet of Jesus. We can get you to his word, and we can help walk you through this thing called faith. Let's pray.