that Elijah the prophet came near and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am

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1 and said, Fill four water pots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Then he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; and he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW in submission, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord sovereign God, to the glory of God the Father. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

2 and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God s truth, don t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God. YOU REMEMBER ELIJAH. When his life s work was over he was the one who was caught up in the whirlwind & a chariot of fire sent by God. And when Jesus was on the earth, it was Elijah & Moses who were the ones whom God chose to meet & talk with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. When John the Baptist started preaching, the crowds said, "Elijah has come back." And when Jesus hung on the cross & cried out, "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?" the crowds said, "He is crying for Elijah to come." IN EVERY ORTHODOX JEWISH HOME AT PASSOVER TIME EVEN TODAY when they put the chairs around the table & spread all the emblems of Passover, there is always one empty chair because they are waiting for Elijah to come. What does James mean when he says, "Elijah was a man just like us?" To be honest with you, I m have a little trouble with that. Can you picture Elijah driving up & down the roads of Bar Harbor? Can you see him in line at McDonald s, ordering a Big Mac & French fries? At Burger King getting a whopper! At Dunkin Donuts getting a coffee or a latte? It s rather hard to imagine, isn t it? Yet, James says that "Elijah was a man just like us."

3 I wouldn t have so much trouble with that because Peter was often saying the wrong thing talking when he should have kept quiet & making some serious mistakes and blunders. He actually tries to rebuke the Lord at one point and Jesus responds by saying, Get thee behind me Satan. I can more easily identify myself perhaps with Peter s human nature rather than with Elijah s. So if James had said, "Peter was a man just like us." I would say, "Yes, I can certainly see that." IF JAMES WOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT THOMAS WAS JUST LIKE US, I could handle that because I can identify with his doubt. Maybe even MATTHEW, ANYONE BUT ELIJAH! BUT WHY DOES HE SAY ELIJAH WAS JUST LIKE US??," I could say, yea, "I can see that, too." David writes in his Psalms of his frustrations, & searching for God s will, & of wondering who he can trust. David sinned. David had trouble with his kids. Indeed, David I can more readily see was a man just like us. BUT ELIJAH! REMEMBER THE SOLE PURPOSE OF ELIJAH CLIMBING UP MT. CARMEL IS TO CLARIFY AND ILLUMINATE IN THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE WHO THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD REALLY WAS! HE WAS NOT PERFORMING THEATRICS TO IMPRESS PEOPLE BUT DEMONSTRATING THE POWER OF GOD TO CONVINCE THE PEOPLE, TO INFLUENCE THE PEOPLE AND TO PERSUADE THE PEOPLE OF WHO GOD REALLY WAS. REMEMBER THIS NATION UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF AHAB AND HIS WIFE JEZEBEL HAD LED THIS COUNTRY AWAY FROM THEIR GOD UNTIL NOW AT THIS TIME THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHO THE TRUE GOD IS! THEY ARE SITTING ON THE FENCE STUCK BETWEEN THE TRUE GOD AND A FALSE GOD! They actually work hand in hand, and there goal is to change us, to transform us, to grow us up, to mature us, to make us into the image of the Lord. The difference is that one centers around what is happening inside us, and one centers around what is happening outside of us.

4 Silver doesn t come out of the ground all shiny and clean. Silver ore has as little as 1% silver with 99% of other minerals, metals and just plain dirt. In order to remove the impurities, the ore is crushed, sifted, and heated in the fire. You and I resist being crushed, and sifted; we want to run from the fire. Remember, in our childish wisdom we ask God to change our circumstances, But In God s wisdom adversity and painful circumstances fulfil His divine purpose in our lives of refining us, purifying us. God refines us like silver so the world can see the image of Jesus in us. God s purpose is to cleanse our lives of sin; to purify our hearts so His holiness and glory can be seen through our lives. GOD S GOAL IS TO MAKE US LIKE JESUS. God is the One who oversees this process in your life. He sends you into the fire and takes you out according to His good pleasure. And He does it for His glory to be seen through your life! Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, emancipation from bondage, true freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, CONTINUALLY SEEING AS IN A MIRROR THE GLORY OF THE LORD, are progressively being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

5 I am talking about your flesh nature, or your human nature or what Paul says is your carnal nature, your self-fish nature, your old man, your sin nature. When placed in the right circumstances this fleshly ungodly nature will rise up inside of us and try to demand its way instead of us submitting to God s way. This fire it is not just some emotional response that I am talking about, though it will affect you emotionally, but it is more consuming in its nature than what we probably can imagine or comprehend. Most of the issues that we face in life that try to defeat us, that try to control us would be defeated and controlled themselves by God s fiery consuming presence being ignited and touching us deep inside our hearts! We sometimes strive to change but we are only trying to change the.

6 YOU CANNOT BECOME EXTERNALLY WHAT YOU HAVE NOT FIRST BECOME INTERNALLY. GOD S INWARD FIRE WILL CHANGE OUR OUTWARD NATURE. WHEN THAT HAPPENS OUR OUTWARD NATURE WILL BE GENUINE, LASTING AND HAVE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE UPON THOSE AROUND US. WHAT ABOUT YOU TODAY? WHAT ABOUT THE OFFERING OF YOUR LIFE AS A LIVING SACRIFICE ON THE ALTAR FOR GOD S FIRE TO BURN IN? MAYBE THERE IS SOMEONE HERE THIS MORNING THAT JUST WANTS TO PRESENT THEIR LIFE TO GOD! MAYBE THERE IS SOMEONE HERE THAT JUST WANTS GOD S FIRE TO TOUCH THEM! I DON T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I WANT, AND I NEED GOD TO TOUCH MY LIFE. LIFE WITHOUT HIS TOUCH HOLDS NO MEANING, NO JOY, AND NO CONTENMENT! WE NEED THE FIRE OF GOD S SPIRIT TO TOUCH US! WHAT ABOUT YOU TODAY? GIVE HIM THE SACRIFICE OF YOUR LIFE-AND SAY, SEND THE FIRE, AND SEND THE FIRE! A HEAVEN SENT FIRE THAT WILL CONSUME THE DROSS, PURIFY THE HEART, AND MAKE YOUR LIFE TO BE ABLAZE WITH THE LIGHT OF GOD S GLORY!