God Will Provide the Flame

23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: 24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Simple: Who’s ever God answers is true.

1st its Baal:

1 Kings 18:25–29 KJV 1900

25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. 26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. 27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

Nothing. No answer, so fire, nothing.

Now its Jehovahs Turn:

1 Kings 18:30–40 KJV 1900

30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. 34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. 35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. 36 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 of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. 40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

What a powerful encounter with God.

The Fire From God

God showed himself by sending fire down from Heaven to consume the whole sacrifice and the while alter. Its fittings since the bible tells us:

Hebrews 12:29 KJV 1900

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

God has often used fire to show his power and his presence. He showed his presence to Moses by fire:

Exodus 3:2 KJV 1900

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Today I want to talk about fire, in other words i want to talk about God, His power and His Presence.

And how like for Elijah, you to can experience the wonder of God’s consuming fire in your life.

Preparing for the Fire

Notice how Elijah prepared for the fire: He saturated the whole alter in water. Now for those of you who dont know: Water prevents fire, we use water to extinguish fire.

If we were going to prepare for a fire we would use dry stuff, things that are flammable, maybe even throw a cap of lighter fluid in or two.

Next time you have a braai, put the coal and then put the hose on for 10 minutes and see how soon you eat.

Why doers Elijah do this? Simple: So that he gets no credit for the miracle at all. Its all God. God cannot be accused us getting “help from Man”.

Elijah makes it perfectly clear - whatever happen, to God be all the glory.

We often try to help God, but all we do is get in the way. God does not need your help - you need his.

Zechariah 4:6 KJV 1900

6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, Saith the Lord of hosts.

Receiving the Fire

Notice that Elijah did not bring any fire with him. If there was going to be fire - then God himself had to bring the flame.

This is not the first time this has happened and it was not the last.

When the tabernacle was set up, the alter where the sacrifices were burnt, that fire was lit by God himself.

Leviticus 9:24 KJV 1900

24 And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Here on mount Carmel, God again lights the fire.

And in the book of acts, God himself lights the fire in each and every believer:

Acts 2:3 KJV 1900

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

This lighting of fire was done by Jesus Christ Himself

Matthew 3:11 KJV 1900

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

In each of these cases, from the Tabernacle, to Mt Carmel to the the Early Church to today, the receiving of the divine fire, they all have one thing in common:

Faith.

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 KJV 1900

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

In each of these cases, could the fire be seen before it came? No.

But was it hoped for? Yes.

We have God to believe that God will always honor His Word. We have got the kind of faith that lays hold of what is not there yet.

Romans 4:17 KJV 1900

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

“I believe God will honor His Word”.

The Power of the Fire

When the fire fell it consumed everything, the offering and the alter. God really is a consuming fire.

When the Fire of the Holy Ghost falls on us, we are consumed as well.

1: We are consumed by Joy, peace and hope.

Romans 15:13 KJV 1900

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

2: We are consumed by courage and confidence in God.

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV 1900

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

3: We are consumed by His Holiness.

1 John 1:7 KJV 1900

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Keeping the Fire

Here is a very intresting point. In the Tabernacle, like on mt carmel, God light the fire himself, but look at what he says to the prients:

Leviticus 6:13 KJV 1900

13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

He command the people to keep the fire burning.

“I’ll light it, you keep it burning”.

If the fire, like any other is neglected and left on its own, it will loose its heat, its intensity, its vigor. It must be kept.

Fire needs 3 things: Heat, fuel and oxygen.

God provides the heat - Amen, he lights the fire, to keep it we must nourish our faith with Fuel and Oxygen.

The fuel of faith is simply the basic Christian disciples: Prayer, Bible study, fasting.

Romans 10:17 KJV 1900

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The oxygen comes from the air around the fire, in other words its the environment. The oxygen is the church. We encourage each other, grow each other, at times correct each other, which all supplies the fire with the oxygen it needs to burn brighter.

Hebrews 10:25 KJV 1900

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

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