I ask you plainly: If God be God, follow Him. I confront the danger of divided loyalties and the habit of serving two masters. I recount Elijah on Mount Carmel and how the people would not answer when required to choose. I urge you to repair the altar in your life before you ask for rain. I teach that true prosperity flows from allegiance to God, not from worldly shortcuts. I call you to identify one area where something else has the final word and to surrender it before tomorrow. I present a careful reading of Elijah on Mount Carmel. I ask the hard question that Elijah posed: How long will you stand between two opinions? I describe the scene of a nation crippled by drought and a people torn between the LORD and Baal. I explain that the drama is not about agricultural technique but about allegiance. I note that the people remain silent because true commitment carries cost. I recount Elijah repairing the broken altar, preparing the sacrifice, and praying until fire fell. I emphasize that before we request provision, we must restore worship. I close by urging one concrete act of surrender before tomorrow, and I affirm that God welcomes a whole heart returned to Him.
Takeaways:
I ask you to stop serving two masters and to choose to follow God now without delay.
We must repair the broken altar of our hearts before we ask God for rain or blessing.
I teach that true prosperity flows from allegiance to God, not from idolizing money or comfort.
We should identify one area where something other than God has the final word and surrender it tomorrow.
I remind you that doubt is not the same as divided allegiance, and wrestling with God can still mean belonging to Him.
Transcripts
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There comes a moment in life when the question is no longer whether you believe in God, but whether your decisions agree with that belief.
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Welcome to the Message with NJ and to a three part series called if God Be God, Follow Him.
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Over three messages, Elijah will confront our divided loyalties, Joshua will challenge our households, and Jesus will question our relationship with wealth.
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My prayer is that our faith becomes more than something we profess, it becomes something we practice.
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Let's talk about the danger of two masters.
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Now, two phones can be useful.
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One for work, one for home, but two gods.
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Now that is a very expensive arrangement and yet many of us have mastered it.
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We have one set of convictions for Sunday and another for the Monday meeting.
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We ask God to bless the business, then wonder whether honesty is affordable.
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We haven't stopped believing.
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We've made God one option among several.
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Now picture Mount Carmel.
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Israel has endured a devastating drought.
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Livelihoods are under pressure and the people are caught between the Lord and baal, a false God associated with storms and fertility.
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Into that crisis walks Elijah with a question more uncomfortable than any sermon about better harvests.
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First Kings:
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If the Lord be God, follow him.
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But of baal, then follow him.
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And then the Bible gives us one of the most revealing sentences in the entire scene.
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And the people answered him.
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Not a word.
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They understand the question and dislike the cost of answering it.
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Once you admit who God is, obedience cannot remain optional.
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BAAL offered something seductive.
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The appearance of control over what people desperately needed.
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Rain, harvest, survival, prosperity.
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And that is still the temptation we want.
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God's blessing while keeping the world's shortcuts.
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God's peace while letting fear make our decisions.
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Some of us have developed a sophisticated management structure.
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God can chair the Sunday meeting provided he does not interfere with procurement, relationships and the bank account.
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Elijah will not allow that arrangement to continue.
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The prophets of BAAL prepare the sacrifice.
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They plead and exhaust themselves.
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But no answer comes.
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Elijah repairs the broken altar, prepares the sacrifice and prays.
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Fire falls and the people confess.
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The Lord, he is God.
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Notice the detail I do not want us to miss.
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Before the fire, Elijah repairs the altar.
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The issue is not simply that the nation needs rain.
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The nation needs to return to its rightful God.
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This does not teach that financial hardship is punishment for sin or that choosing God guarantees an instant bank notification.
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Mount Carmel is a confrontation over worship, not a technique for getting rich.
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But it exposes the truth about prosperity.
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What you worship will shape how you pursue what you need.
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If money is your God, you may Gain it and lose your lose your integrity.
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If approval is your God, you may win the room and lose yourself.
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If comfort rules, obedience will always seem too expensive.
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Jesus would later put it plainly in Matthew 6:24, you cannot serve God and mammon, not because money is evil in itself, but because money becomes dangerous when it stops being a resource and starts giving orders.
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Biblical prosperity has room for material increase, honest work, wise decisions, generosity, peace and relationships.
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But God may entrust resources to you.
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Will they serve his purposes or will you spend your life serving them?
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We pray for God to change our circumstances while protecting our compromises.
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We say, lord, send the rain.
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When the first act of obedience may be to repair the altar.
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What altar have you allowed to break?
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Is there a deal you know you should refuse?
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A financial decision you cannot honestly bring before God A calling postponed because obedience might cast applause.
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Doubt is not the same as divided allegiance.
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You can wrestle with God and still belong to Him.
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Elijah is confronting the deliberate refusal to choose the habit of asking two masters to share one throne.
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So identify one area where something other than God has the final word and make one concrete decision to surrender it before tomorrow.
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Christ calls for our whole hearts and his grace welcomes us back when we wander, Father, reveal the loyalties we excuse.
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Give us courage to reject dishonest gain, wisdom to steward what you provide and faith to follow you even when obedience costs us.
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In Jesus name, amen.
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Today, Elijah has asked us to choose our God.
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But what happens when that choice has to live beyond Sunday and shape the people under our roof?
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In the next message, we stand with Joshua and hear a declaration that still has the power to change a family.
