Tag Archives: God

When God Gives You a Moment…

There are some stories that just grip our hearts and imaginations at the majesty and power of God.  One of my favorite stories is found in 1 Kings 18.  The prophet Elijah confronts King Ahab, an evil king of Israel, and challenges him to a contest.  Elijah wanted to show everyone who the true God was for Israel.  So, two supernatural powers would be on display that day: Yahweh versus Baal.  One would be proven true, while the other would be shown to be a fraud.  Even though Elijah was outnumbered (one prophet of Yahweh versus 450 prophets of Baal), he was still convinced that his God was the true God to be followed.  The objective was simple: each side would be given a bull and they would put it on an altar and pray to their supernatural power to strike their bull with fire.  If Baal answered with fire, then Baal is the true God.  If Yahweh answered with fire, then Yahweh is the true God.  “The god who answers by fire—he is God” (1 Kings 18:24).

 Everyone agreed to the rules.  Elijah allowed the 450 prophets of Baal to go first.  The prophets of Baal cut up the bull and placed it on the altar and started to call on the name of Baal.  They did this for hours.  We are told that from morning until noon, they cried out in prayers to Baal.  They danced around the altar to get Baal’s attention.  But there was no response.  There was no answer.

 Around noon, Elijah started to taunt them.  He told them to shout louder…maybe Baal can’t hear them.  Then Elijah really got into it and suggested four other reasons why Baal was not responding: (1) deep in thought; (2) busy; (3) traveling; (4) sleeping.  One of the Hebrew words here in this section suggests that Elijah said something like, “Maybe he is going to the bathroom to relieve himself.”  I can just picture Elijah mocking them.  He knew that Baal was fake.  He knew that the true God would come through for him.  That is why he was so sarcastic with them.

 The prophets of Baal became so desperate that they started to slash themselves with swords.  Blood flowed from their bodies.  They were shouting at the top of their lungs, but Baal was not responding.  Maybe Baal wasn’t an actual god after all.

 After several hours of trying to get Baal to respond, it was now Elijah’s turn.  Elijah took twelve stones and repaired the altar that had been neglected for quite some time.  He then cut up his bull and placed it on the altar.  He arranged some wood along with the bull.  But then he did something odd.  He dug a trench around the altar.  He told the people to fill four large jars with water and pour it on the bull and the wood.  We all know that water puts out fire.  Ask any fireman.  As the people poured water on the bull and the wood, Elijah told them to do it a second time.  They did it a second time.  Then he told them to do it a third time.  The bull, wood, and trench were completely soaked with water.  The offering was now ready.

 Elijah stepped close to the bull and prayed a simple prayer.  There was no shouting in desperation.  The time Elijah needed to get Yahweh’s attention was not measured in hours.  It was measured in faith.  There was no cutting with swords.  Here are the words to the prayer:

 “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, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again” (1 Kings 18:36-37). 

 This prayer took no more than thirty seconds!  As soon as Elijah finished this simple prayer, fire from heaven burned up the bull, the wood, the twelve stones, the soil, and even the water in the trench!  That is supernatural power!  Science teaches us that fire is always extinguished by water.  But when a supernatural being is involved, the laws of nature can be reversed.

 The people’s response was exactly what Elijah was looking for: “When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord—He is God!  The Lord—He is God’” (1 Kings 18:39)!

Baal had lost.  He was fake.  Yahweh had won.  He is a living God!  The 450 prophets of Baal were all executed that day because they had been leading people away from the true God.  What a great victory for God and for His prophet Elijah!

 What does this story teach us?  Read Elijah’s prayer again.  The lesson for us is found in this phrase: “answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God.”  Elijah stuck his neck out for God.  He needed God to respond so that the people could see Yahweh as alive.  There were other prophets at the time, but they were hiding in caves (1 Kings 18:4).  Elijah was the only prophet who would stand up with such courage for Yahweh.  He faced ridicule.  He faced rejection.  He faced death.  But through his brave act, he showed the people that “The Lord is God!”  God looked mighty and powerful on this day because one faithful servant was willing to stand up to the false belief system of the day that Baal was the true God.

 When you are given your moment to stand up for the true God, will you courageously show others that God is real?  I believe that God gives all of us moments in our life to show the world that He is real.  Some of us get really grand moments, like Elijah did.  Other times, the moments seem ordinary, like when you are talking with an agnostic coworker over lunch about your faith.  When the moment arrives, is it your prayer to show others that the God you serve is alive?

 What if Elijah would have been hiding in a cave?  He would have missed this moment.  I wouldn’t be writing about it.  It wouldn’t be one of the great stories of the Christian faith.  It would have never happened.  Make sure your life is not filled with “moments that never happen” because you keep silent about your faith.  Take a hold of the moment when it arrives, and ask for the power of God to overwhelm those who are in your midst so that they walk away saying,    “The Lord—He is God!”   

Why Should I Be Baptized?

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 I look forward to our church’s picnic every year.  It is a great time filled with hamburgers, hotdogs, swimming, kickball and most importantly, people.  It is even more important for the people at Central Church to attend events like this because we now have over a thousand people in our church and there are three different options for people to attend a weekend service.  Even though we are getting “larger,” we will always be a family.  And families have picnics.

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On July 7, we had our church picnic.  I will never forget it.  Why?  Because something happened at it that had never happened before.  Someone was baptized.  I still smile every time I think about what happened on that day.  I was chewing on a hamburger when a young lady came up to me and introduced her new boyfriend to me.  We started getting to know each other by asking each other questions and one of her questions was: “When is the next baptism?”  I told her that it would be in September after school started again.  She looked at me and asked another question: “Could I get baptized sooner than that?”

 You know how when you are talking to people and they ask you something and a flood of thoughts just enter your mind?  That is what happened to me in that moment.  It took only two or three seconds for all the thoughts to enter and then exit my mind, but here were a few of them: Why can’t she just wait until September?  She hasn’t taken any classes concerning baptism.  Does she want to get baptized in a pool somewhere privately?  I wonder if there are any hotdogs left?  We are at a picnic where hundreds of Christians are already gathered.  We are standing twenty feet from a pond.  All you have to do is believe and then you can be baptized.  Would she want to be baptized right now?

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So I looked at her and looked at the water and asked her, “What about right now?”  I honestly thought she was going to say, “I think I’ll just wait until September.”  But she shocked me by stating, “Sure!”  I told her to give me five minutes to gather everyone and then I would baptize her.  She said, “That would be awesome!”  I could see the glow in her eyes!  Over the next couple of minutes I announced to the crowd that we would be having a baptism and I then proceeded to force all of the swimming children out of the pond (not a small feat) so that we would have room for the baptism.

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With hundreds of adults and children watching us, the young lady and I proceeded into the pond.  She shared a concise testimony and I asked her two questions: (1) Have you placed your trust in Jesus Christ as the Savior of your sins so that you may have eternal life?  She said, “Yes.”  (2) Do you promise to follow Jesus Christ as your leader as you involve yourself in a local body of believers?  She said, “Yes.”  Then I dunked her down into the catfish infested waters in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son Jesus Christ, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.  And I lifted her up from the depths of the water to symbolize her new life in Jesus Christ.

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The Christians gathered there clapped and cheered.  They hugged her as she left the pond.  What a moment!  As I was walking out of the pond, a story came to my mind from the book of Acts.  It was the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40).  Philip had just led the Ethiopian to a relationship with Jesus Christ (while they were both riding on a chariot!).  And when their chariot passed some water, the Ethiopian stated, “Look, here is water.  Why shouldn’t I be baptized?”  Both Philip and the Ethiopian got off the chariot and went into the water and Philip baptized the Ethiopian.

 So many denominations over the centuries have complicated the event called baptism.  You have to take a class before you can be baptized.  You have to be a certain age before you can experience baptism.  The form of baptism should be dunking.  No, it should be pouring.  Or maybe it should be sprinkling.  If you get dunked, it must be backwards.  No, do it forwards.  Dunk me once.  No, dunk me three times.

 Why have we complicated something so simple and so beautiful?  Just a short time before the baptism of the Ethiopian, Peter preached to the crowds: “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38).  Repentance is all we should require before baptism.  In other words, turn from your way and follow Jesus Christ.  And then show the world that you are a Christian by being baptized.  Baptism, in its most simple definition, is a display of your surrender to Jesus Christ and your willingness to align with God.

 This is why at Central Church, if you want us to baptize you by pouring water on you, we will gladly pour water on you in the name of the Holy Trinity.  If you want us to baptize you by dunking you under the water, we will gladly immerse you into the water.  As long as you have repented from your sins.  If you have never been baptized, please consider it as an important step in your allegiance with Jesus Christ.  You will never regret taking this stand for Jesus Christ!

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