Team Player verses Lone Ranger 3

Hello Everyone,

On God’s team, when you are the only one standing, you are still more than a mighty army.

First Kings 18:40 is where you might have trouble wrapping your mind around the detail.

Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

Elijah ordered the capture of all of Baal’s prophets (450 in number according to v. 22) and slaughtered them all. The laws of Deuteronomy ordered the death of those who worshiped false gods and allured others to do the same (Deut. 13).

These killings were also retribution for Jezebel executing the prophets of Yahweh (1 Kings 18:4, 13).

When you imagine Elijah seizing 450 men and executing them, it seems like a scene from a gory, film.

When you understand the reality of what happened (believers no longer riding the fence, wavering between Yahweh and Baal, are capturing and killing the prophets who led them astray), you get an even better picture of redemption.

The people of God, newly committed to the Lord, were killing the sin and temptation in their lives, literally and figuratively.

God can supply an army. Those wavering Israelites had no chance once God showed up.

He won them back, and He built an army—at least one big enough to tackle 450 of the queen’s best prophets.

Elijah did not waver. He asked the men and women of Israel how long they would continue to waver between two opinions.

They weren’t completely abandoning the worship of God; they were blending the two together.

Elijah didn’t do that. He was not a guy who would blend in with the crowd. God will not share first-place status in our lives with anyone or anything. Period!

Taking a bold stand for God may mean standing alone. It could be at your workplace. It could be at the soccer field.

It could be in your child’s school or in the community around your friends.

It might mean taking a stand separate from your own family because you have chosen to raise kids differently from the way you were raised.

We can take comfort in the fact that when we choose to stand alone with God, we are never really alone.

Standing with Him makes you larger in number and in strength than any army of this world.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil