The Challenge (Pastor Greg Hudson, 02/08/25)

So a question for you is, who are you? When you

think of yourself, when other people think about

you, what do they picture? What's your personality?

What's your reputation? When you're at work,

Are you the hard worker? Are you the jokester?

Are you the one that just wants to be quiet and

get everything done? When you're in class, when

you're at school, are you the one that sits on

the front row? Are you the one that sits on the

back row and maybe pays attention some of the

time? When you're at a family reunion, who are

you? What's your reputation? Or maybe different

than a family reunion is a class reunion. When

you get back together with your friends that

you haven't seen in a long time, and sometimes

we revert back to maybe that high school personality,

who are you? What's your reputation? Is it something

that you're proud of, or is it something that

maybe we sometimes wish we could change? When

I was a student at Southern, just up the road

here, taking theology classes, there was one

day that one of my fellow students had someone

sitting next to him, a younger lady, a younger

girl, and I thought she looked familiar. And

so after class, I went up and I said, didn't

you go to Ozark Academy? That's where I went

to school. And she said, I did. But I'm surprised

that you would remember me. You only spoke to

me one time when we were at school together.

And she told the story that she was a freshman

and I was a cool senior. And the one year of

school together, I only spoke to her one time,

apparently. Now, this is a boarding school, so

we're living in dorms, eating in a cafeteria.

And this was the story that she said. She had

received a check from her parents in the mail.

And she had it on her tray in the cafeteria.

And she accidentally, when she was throwing away

her trash, she'd thrown away this important check

from her parents. And so I don't know if she

realized it immediately or later she came back.

And so she's standing over the trash can, you

know, with discarded milk cartons and leftover

lasagna and green beans and whatever it was.

And she's looking for this important check. And

here comes Greg Hudson walking by, and the one

word that she remembers I ever said to her as

she's digging through the trash can was, are

you hungry? I didn't say, hey, what happened?

Could I help you? Did you lose something? Do

you need some assistance? I didn't say, oh, I'm

sorry that you're digging through the trash can.

I had a smart aleck remark and said, are you

hungry? And that's what she remembered. about

me. That was my reputation several years later

as I bumped into this former classmate. That

was all that I had ever said to her. What's your

reputation? Do you ever wish you could change

your reputation? Are you ever challenged to change?

What if God challenges you to change something

in your life? We're going to jump back into our

series that we started a couple weeks ago about

the prophet Elijah. And we're going to actually,

we're going to get to 1 Kings 18 in just a moment,

but we're going to start in James chapter 5 in

James 5 · chapter mention

the New Testament. We read this verse the last

time we were together, but I just want to remind

us of something here. James chapter 5 and verse

James 5 · chapter mention

17. We're talking about the prophet Elijah in

the Old Testament. But James says, Elijah was

a man, was a person with a nature like ours.

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. The thing I want to bring out about that

verse is that Elijah was a person just like us.

He wasn't a superhero. He wasn't some sort of

spiritual giant. He didn't have anything else

than we could have. But what we know about Elijah

is that whenever he heard God talking to him,

whenever he saw God's instruction, that's what

he did. He followed through. He did exactly what

God wanted him to do. So with that in mind, let's

go to 1 Kings chapter 18. Our last time together,

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

we were in 1 Kings 17, but we're going to continue

the story of Elijah today, and the next couple

times that I'm here with us, we'll continue to

talk about Elijah. But in 1 Kings 18, verse 1,

1 Kings 18:1

the story of Elijah continues like this. It says,

that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the

third year saying, go present yourself to King

Ahab and I will send rain on the earth. And so

Elijah went to present himself to Ahab and there

was a severe famine in the land. Now we have

to review just a little bit because it's been

two weeks and there's probably some folks here

that weren't here two weeks ago. So in 1 Kings

17, the word of the Lord came to Elijah and he

went before King Ahab and he said, it is not

going to rain because King Ahab had led the people

away from God. And so God was going to pronounce

a judgment upon the land and it was not going

to rain. And then after Elijah boldly went before

the king, the voice of God came and sent him

across to another place where he was going to

be provided for. And if you remember, he was

going to be fed by some unique animals. And I

wanted to put this picture that Bethany drew

for us up one more time. What kind of animals

fed Elijah? Ravens, birds who would normally

eat whatever food they got. And yet these ravens

went out of their way to bring this food to Elijah.

And then he was drinking water from the brook.

But even though he was exactly where God wanted

him to be, Eventually, the brook dried up, and

the word of God came to Elijah again, and he

went off in another direction, and he went all

the way to the area of Sidon, which is a pagan

nation close by, and he met a widow there, and

she was about to eat the very last of her food,

and yet she offered it to Elijah, and because

she offered it to Elijah, God provided for the

widow, and the widow provided for Elijah during

this time of famine. But now for three years,

Elijah's been there, and this lack of rain has

been taking a toll on the land. And I imagine

as we see tragedies in the world, whether it's

a plane crash or a forest fire, it often breaks

our heart. I imagine Elijah, as he sees this

national tragedy, this judgment of God being

poured out, I imagine his heart was broken as

the land continued to get drier and drier, as

things continued to die and less and less happened.

But now the word of God came to Elijah, and he's

supposed to go back to King Ahab and tell him

that it's going to rain again. And so he makes

his way to where the king is. We're not going

to look at the story, but he bumps into a gentleman

named Obadiah who worked for the king. but also

worked for God. Really cool story. Read that.

He tells Obadiah to go and tell the king that

Elijah is back. And so we're going to pick up

the story in verse 17. It says, Then it happened

when Ahab, King Ahab, saw Elijah, that Ahab said

to him, Is that you, O troubler of Israel? You're

the one that caused all this. You're the one

that came in and said it wasn't going to rain,

and now you're back. You are the one that caused

all this. But I love the way that Elijah responds.

It says in verse 18, he answered, I have not

troubled Israel, but you, King Ahab, and your

father's house have, in that you have forsaken

the commandments of the Lord and have followed

the Baals. So Elijah, once again, is speaking

to the king and he says, I'm not the cause of

this, but you are, King Ahab. So one more review,

our second review. King Ahab was the king of

the blue kingdom there, the kingdom of Israel,

the northern kingdom. After Solomon's son, the

kingdom divided, King Solomon's son, the nation

divided. So there was Israel in the north and

Judah in the south. And in the south was Jerusalem.

And so they continued worshiping in the temple

and serving off and on, serving God. But in the

northern kingdom, they set up a false system

of worship. In Samaria, they had their own idols,

bulls and other things that they would pray to,

that they would worship to. And almost every

king in the northern kingdom was leading the

people away from God. And so when Elijah says,

it's your fault, Ahab, And your fathers, notice

we read this last time, but chapter 16 and verse

30, it says, now Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil

in the sight of the Lord more than all who were

before him. He was more evil than all of these

wicked kings. And it goes on and talks about

how he married Queen Jezebel, who was the daughter

of a priest of Baal, and they set up places of

worship to these false gods and so forth. And

so Elijah was able and willing and bold enough

to speak truth to this person, even though he

was a king. Sometimes it's hard to speak truth

to power. Because power doesn't always want to

hear the truth because they're going to think

whatever they're doing is right. Sometimes it's

hard to speak to a king or a leader or a president

about mercy or whatever it is because sometimes

people don't want to hear things. But Elijah

was bold enough to speak truth to this king and

say, you are the one that has caused this challenge.

You are the one that has done all these things.

And so, They set up a challenge here. Notice

what Elijah tells the king in verse 19. He says,

now therefore, king, send and gather all of Israel

to me on Mount Carmel. We're going to gather

on this mountain that overlooks the Mediterranean

Sea. Bring all the people, bring 450 prophets

of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at

Queen Jezebel's table. And so that's exactly

what was going to happen. How long did that take

to gather these people from the corners of the

nation? It must have been a few days, a week.

I don't know the timetable here, but eventually

they gathered together and Elijah stands before

the people in verse 21. And Elijah came to all

the people and said, here's the challenge. How

long will you falter between two opinions? If

the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow

him. But the people answered him not a word.

This was the call. This was the challenge. People

had to make a choice. Elijah challenged the people

of God, the people of the northern kingdom, to

make a choice, decide. who you're going to follow.

And I think that this is a word not just to them,

but I think it can be a word to our generation

as well. Because too many times we want to, as

churchgoers, we want to look godly, we want to

sit in the right place, and yet we also want

to dabble with the world just a little bit. We

want to say the right things, we want to sing

the right songs, and yet we want to get as close

as we can to the excitement of the world at the

same time. I mentioned in the children's story

that Jolie and I were able to go to Egypt just

a few days ago, and we were able to see incredible

sights. One of the ancient wonders of the world,

the pyramids and the Sphinx. That's a tomb and

then a human -headed lion and all this artwork

of different things and depictions of gods that

they worshipped. The jackal -headed god or the

crocodile -headed god or the hawk -headed god.

All these different gods. that they were worshiping

incredible architecture, incredible displays.

And yet all of this was about leading people

away from the true God. In fact, this was a tomb

here to a particular pharaoh because the pharaoh

was a god as well. And on two days of the year,

the sun would shine through this opening and

it would... go all the way to the back of this

temple at a particular time to illuminate the

Pharaoh, to illuminate this false god. And everywhere

you looked, you could see these idols, these

false gods, just like in the land of Israel.

At that time, they were worshiping the different

Baals. Now, I don't think that very many of us

here in North Georgia, I don't think that many

of us set up idols. We don't have physical graven

images that we're tempted to bow down before,

that we're tempted to worship. But do we have

other kinds of idols that may distract us, that

may pull our attention, that may pull our focus

away from God? Maybe it's our job and the hours

that we put in to make sure we have enough money

to provide for our family. That's a good thing.

But could that dedication to one thing be harming

us in our devotion to God? Or could it be our

media use? We carry these little devices around,

and how easy is it to lose time, to lose an hour?

scrolling through something or watching some

silly video, which in and of itself is not necessarily

a bad thing, but can it be absorbing our time?

What about sports? Have mercy. I know there's

a big game tomorrow, but we need to make sure

that whatever we're doing, we're not distracted

from serving the true God of heaven and distracted

by these little things. We're challenged to make

a choice. And so Elijah sets up a duel, you could

say, a contest, a confrontation between two sides.

And you can read through those verses, and it

talks about there's going to be two altars, there's

going to be two bulls, a livestock placed upon

them. There's going to be two opportunities,

and then notice what it says in verse 24. 1 Kings

1 Kings 18:24

18, verse 24, it says, Then you call on the name

of your gods, with a little g, and I will call

on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers

by fire, he is God. So all the people answered

and said, That sounds good. It is well spoken.

That's the challenge. That's the duel that we're

going to have. And this should have been the

perfect test for Baal. If Baal was ever going

to pass a test like this, this would have been

the one. Because Baal was the god of fertility.

And so part of that was that the crops would

grow. And what do the crops need in order to

grow? They need rain. So he's the God of rain.

And along with that, the God of thunder and the

God of lightning. This was the perfect test for

Baal to prove that he was a true God, which he's

not. But it was the perfect opportunity. And

so we see that's exactly what happened. And the

prophets of Baal got to go first. And notice

what happens in verse 26. It says, And they prepared

it, and they called on the name of Baal for morning,

even until noon, saying, oh, Baal, hear us. But

there was no voice. No one answered. And then

it says they leaped about the altar, which they

had made. Oh, Baal, hear us, send fire down.

And it says they leaped about, and some versions

even say they leaped, leapt, leaped, I don't

know. They jumped. onto the altar. If this bull,

if this livestock isn't enough, God, send fire,

consume me. That's some dedication that these

prophets had to this false God. Consume me. And

I wonder, what are we willing to sacrifice for

our God, for our true God that we follow? They're

like, God, you can kill me. If you want to, I

think of Romans chapter 12, verse 1, where Paul

Romans 12:1

writes, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by

the mercies of God, that you present your bodies

as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,

which is your reasonable service. It's one thing.

It's an incredible thing when people give their

life and die a death for God. That's a one -time

thing. But God says, I need you to be a living

sacrifice, a commitment that we make not just

one time, but that we're able to make day by

day and week by week as we choose, as we're challenged

to make a choice and to follow God. But in this

case, they cry out to Baal and nothing happens.

You go on to verse 27. It says, and so it was

at noon. So they started in the morning. Now

it's noontime. that Elijah, now we read before

that Elijah was a person just like us. And sometimes

we like to say, I told you so, or different things

like that. And it says, Elijah mocked them. I

think this is some righteous mockery, some trash

talking, if you will. And it says, cry aloud.

Maybe you need to shout a little bit louder.

He's a God. He's busy. Shout a little bit louder.

And then it says maybe either he's meditating.

You know, you got to stir him out of his meditation

chamber. You got to shout a little bit louder.

Or it says he is busy. And this is actually an

interesting euphemism here. And what it's referring

to is someone going to the bathroom. Maybe you

need to shout a little bit louder because he's

in the outhouse. I can think, you know, of...

mothers when the children are very small, and

maybe they think that there's one room in the

house that they can have just a moment or two

by themselves, but inevitably, mama, mama, mama,

mama. And he's kind of, you know, maybe you need

to shout a little bit louder to stir him out

of this place. Or he's on a journey. He's further

away. Yell just a bit louder. Or maybe he's asleep.

You just got to wake him up. come on guys, yell

louder, wake him up. And Elijah is sitting back

as these guys are jumping and screaming and yelling.

And that's not all. Notice verse 28. It says,

they cried aloud and they cut themselves as was

their custom with knives and lances until the

blood gushed out on them. They were actually

harming themselves. seeking to appease an angry

God that wasn't even real. Sometimes people in

our society, they cause harm to themselves seeking

to escape from something. Harm themselves, whether

it's through some kind of addiction to drugs

or to alcohol, and they're doing all these different

things seeking to escape. Or maybe it's whatever

kind of media that they're binging. And unfortunately,

even in this world, there's some who actually,

like these people, actually physically harm themselves

and physically cut themselves seeking to escape

from something. But all that they did, still,

there was nothing. Because verse 29 goes on and

says, They prophesied until the time of the offering

of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice.

No one answered. No one paid attention. They

tried everything they could, but nothing was

working. Still, there was nothing. And finally,

Elijah's like, okay, it's my turn now. It's my

time. Verse 30. It says, Elijah said to all the

people, come. near to me. So all the people came

near to him. He didn't want to yell. He didn't

want to have to shout. Just press in. Come close.

And then it says he repaired the altar of the

Lord that was broken down. I love that picture

because that shows that there had been a place

where the worship of the true God had happened

in that very place, but it had been neglected.

It had been forgotten. It had been abandoned.

And so Elijah takes the time, it says he took

12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel,

and he built this altar. And it says he repaired

the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And

it says in verse 32, with the stones he built

an altar in the name of the Lord. And so these

people had gathered around. And Elijah was repairing

that which was broken. And I wonder about our

personal spiritual walks. How is your altar of

worship in your life? Are you taking time to

open up your Bible? Are you taking time to pray?

Is your spiritual altar neglected? Is it broken

down? Is your Bible dusty? Are you taking time

to truly explore and get to know the true God

so that you can avoid these little gods in your

life? So as Elijah had challenged these individuals

to make a choice, to make a change, we see that

they're beginning to respond in worship. They're

beginning to respond in worship. If I can tell

one more story from high school. I was at Ozark

Academy in a boarding school, and it was my senior

year. And I don't know why, but I decided that

I was going to start reading my Bible. I'd grown

up going to church. I'd been baptized, gone to

Sabbath school, all the works. But I decided

I wanted to make sure that this God was for real

and was for me. And so I decided I was going

to start reading my Bible. And we were in a dorm,

so there was a certain time that there was lights

out, but I would turn on the light in the closet.

and I would crack the door just a tiny little

bit so that one sliver of light shined out of

the closet, and I would put my Bible in front

of that sliver of light, and I would read one

page and two pages. That was my Bible reading

plan. And as I read, I was looking for at least

one verse that I could underline, one verse that

I could see that perhaps God was talking to me.

Now, that was the same year that apparently I

told a young girl, why are you eating out of

the trash? Are you hungry? So things don't change

immediately. Things don't change all the time.

But I begin to recognize that, yes, God is for

real and God is for me. And so Elijah rebuilt

this altar. And notice it says in verse 36, it

came to pass at the time of the offering of the

evening sacrifice. Remember that time 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 that I am your servant

and that I have done all these things at your

word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people

may know that you are the Lord God and that you

have turned their hearts back to you. So these

people are gathered in close. The altar is repaired

and Elijah prays. And he says, let it be known

that you are God. Let it be known that I am your

servant. And God, let it be known that you are

drawing the hearts of all these people back.

This is what it's all about. This is what the

drought was about. This is what Elijah's ministry

was all about. This is what this challenge was

all about, that God wanted everyone to know that

he was God. God wanted everyone to know that

he was drawing them back to where he was. God

was drawing him back to follow him. Now, it was

several years ago that I was in a group setting,

and there was a challenge thrown out to come

up with a one -word goal for the year that was

ahead, for the school year that was ahead. goal.

And as I was pondering that, this verse is where

I landed. This verse is what I came up with,

and I have it written in the margin of my Bible.

In the year 2016, my one word goal for the year,

and I want to make it my goal for every year,

is known. Let it be known that God is God. Let

it be known that I am a servant of God. And let

the people I come in contact with through my

words and through my interactions, may they know

that God is reaching out to them, that God is

drawing them back. And so as Elijah challenges

these people to make a choice, as they're beginning

to respond in worship, now we see that there's

a third thing here that we can make God known.

And so Elijah prays this simple prayer. Let it

be known that you are God. And then boom! The

fire fell from heaven. And some of you jumped

just a little bit, but imagine if you were in

that place. Have you ever been somewhere where

lightning has struck close by? And your ears

are booming, your eyes are from the brightness,

the hair on your arms is standing up. Sometimes

you can even almost taste it. It's like metallic

when you're that close. to a lightning strike.

And that is what happened in this situation,

in this circumstance. Let it be known. And God

reached down and sent fire from heaven. And it

says, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed

the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones

and the dust, and it licked up the water that

was in the trench. You know what? I didn't even

mention that. After Elijah had taken his turn,

he built this altar. He had told the people to

pour water upon the sacrifice. How was God to

be known? By fire. You wouldn't pour water on

it. And it says they took 12 jars of water, four

jars, three times, and it filled up this trench.

And when the fire fell from heaven, it consumed

the sacrifice. It consumed the wood. It consumed

the stones and it even evaporated, burned up

the water. And the people could respond in only

one way. They saw it, they fell on their face

and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord,

he is God. That was the only response that they

could have because they saw this fire fall from

heaven and they recognized that this was the

true God, that Baal was a false God. and they

had to make a change. Now, is that what we need?

Do we need fire to come down from heaven daily

to remind us who the true God is? Do you remember

what time this was? When did this take place?

It said the time of the evening. sacrifice. So

in the temple in Jerusalem, there's a morning

sacrifice, there's an evening sacrifice. And

the evening sacrifice was about three o 'clock

in the afternoon. But here in this northern kingdom,

they didn't follow that anymore. And yet those

sacrifices that took place day by day, week by

week, those sacrifices, those lambs were pointing

forward to something else. We're pointing down

through the pages of salvation history. down

to the time when John the Baptist could say,

behold, look, the Lamb of God who takes away

the sins of the world. And then it was on Mount

Calvary, not Mount Carmel, at the time of the

evening sacrifice, as Jesus was hung upon a cross,

that he could proclaim, it is finished. And all

of those sacrifices that were pointing to that

moment at the time of the evening sacrifice,

was completed. And the veil of the temple was

torn in two. And Jesus could say, it is finished.

And that is the sign for us today. We don't need

lightning to strike each and every day because

we have the opportunity to look back and to see

that Jesus died on the cross. And Jesus said

in John 12, he said, if I am lifted up, I will

draw all people unto myself. And so as we look

upon the cross of Calvary, we can be reminded

of what Jesus has done. And we can hear that

challenge. What choice are you going to make?

And we can respond in worship. And we can, in

all of our life, make God known. I want to close

with a couple more pictures here. This is in

a tomb. You can see the amazing... hieroglyphics

and artwork and so forth. And this is a place

called the Temple of Karnak, which is like 60

acres, hieroglyphics everywhere. And as we're

looking at these amazing structures, our tour

guide said, look up on that wall. You see way

up high on that wall? He said, this temple used

to be full of sand. Time went on for a while.

It kind of filled up with sand. And right there

in that middle opening, you can kind of see a

gap. Right next to that opening, there's a small

carving of a shell, of a seashell. That used

to be where the floor was because the sand was

up higher. And so he said that shell was marked

a meeting place where after this worship of Egyptian

gods fell by the wayside, as the people of Egypt

became Christian and were persecuted in different

ways, that they carved a marking spot as a place

where they could gather in this pagan temple

and they could worship the true God of heaven.

That was in Karnak. And on the island of Philae,

you can see a pillar covered in hieroglyphics.

And yet... There's a cross that has been carved

there as well. And just around the corner from

that is another little nook there. And you can

see the hieroglyphics there have been chipped

away, chiseled away. Because again, as later

years, as Christians, as people were becoming

Christians, they came to this place and they

said, we want to worship the true God of heaven

here. And so even in a world surrounded by falsehood,

They're like, we're going to worship truth. And

as Christians today in a world surrounded so

often by falsehood, we can make a choice and

we can stand with the true God. We can hear that

challenge of Elijah. How long are you going to

falter between two opinions? Follow the true

God. We can follow the action. of Elijah, if

we need to, to repair that altar of personal

worship or family worship in our life. We can

respond to that prayer of Elijah. Let it be known

in my words and in my actions that there is one

God in heaven and I am going to serve him. So

I don't know where you are in your life, which

challenge you hear. Maybe you need to accept

Jesus for the first time. Maybe you need to rededicate

yourself. to his word, to serving him, to worshiping

him. Maybe you need to decide that whether you're

in Columbia or Ringgold, you're going to let

it be known that you're a follower of God. Whatever

your challenge is, be ready to take that next

step with Jesus. Let's bow our heads for prayer.

Dear God, what an incredible story of a testimony

that takes place that you reveal yourself. to

individuals through history. You reveal yourself

to us. And Lord, may each one of us from this

day forward make you known to everybody we come

in contact with. In your name we pray. Amen.