In this sermon, the speaker recounts the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a test to determine who the true God was. He built an altar and prepared a sacrifice, while the prophets of Baal did the same. Elijah prayed a simple prayer, asking God to reveal Himself and turn the hearts of the people back to Him. In response, God sent a supernatural fireball that consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the water, and even the stones. The people fell on their faces and declared that the Lord is God.

Elijah confronted Ahab that second time, after Elijah had raised the boy from the dead and spent those wonderful months and months with the widow, the foreigner. He came back and as he confronted Ahab, Ahab said, you're the troubler of Israel. And Elijah said, I am not the troubler of Israel. This is what he said to Ahab. I have not troubled Israel, but you have and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. You know, it's the confrontation of the ages. People that have the word of God, people that know the word of God, they turn away from the word of God, they forsake the word of God, they forsake God, mixture comes in and they start to worship something else. Whether it's Baal in those days, today it's something that will creep in. Maybe it's a person, maybe it's something that takes more importance in your life than knowing Yeshua and becoming more Christlike. The suffering and the slow build of character that Elijah went through at the brook, waiting for the bird and in Seraphat with the widow and with the young boy, he was becoming more and more Christlike. But this man, the king, who should have been the leader of the religion of northern Israel, he had brought in all of this mixture and he was the troubler of Israel. When a government like Ahab's or any other western government starts to endorse homosexuality, there were homosexual practices all over the high places of Israel. There was child sacrifice on the high places of Israel, including Mount Carmel, here where we are. Elijah took a stand against that and said, I'm not the troubler of Israel, you're the troubler of Israel. Now bring all your prophets, all the prophets of Baal, all those that eat at Jezebel's table, taking the money from the people and living in prosperity and luxury, bring them all up there. And bring them to the top of the mountain and let's have a showdown between the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Adonai, and your false idol that you worship, Baal. So, messengers must have gone out to all the different tribes in northern Israel saying, come to Mount Carmel, there's going to be a showdown, the prophet Elijah is going to be there, there's going to be a showdown and we're going to bring all the prophets, all the prophets of Baal, they will be there, and the priests, and everyone started to come. It must have been, oh, this is going to be exciting, what a show this will be up on the top of Mount Carmel, how fabulous this will be. And so here they come, the tribal leaders coming across Galilee, coming from up Mount Carmel, coming across from over on Mount Carmel, Hermon, and there they came, the grandfathers, maybe they were walking with the little children and the mothers, and all the army came, and the keepers of the peace, the police force we might say in our day, they came, and here they all came, all in their regalia, all the soldiers in their armor with their shields and their spears, and then here came King Ahab, riding up in his chariot, the king, the leader that everybody looked to and bowed down to, this man that had brought all of this mixture and compromise and evil into Israel, the chosen people of God that were supposed to have a relationship with God and be a light to the nations. And finally they all came, and then maybe there was a pause, they were wondering, will he come, will Elijah come, is he coming, anybody seen him? And then he appeared, maybe up on a ridge above them and walked down, they opened up, walked through, imagine this man wearing this beat up old prophet's cloak, looking at all these wild priests wearing all this stuff that they wore and banging all the crazy instruments they used and he walked through and he looked at his own people, he looked at the people of Israel and says, why do you falter between two opinions, why are you limping between two opinions, at least, if Baal is Baal, worship him, if Jehovah is God, worship him, no one answered him a word, finally he said, alright, Ahab, I'll tell you what, the God who answers by fire, he is God. Elijah must have heard this from the Lord, he said, let the prophets here, get two animals, cut up the animal, you give your sacrifice, and the God who answers by fire, he is God, how does that sound, and all the people said, it's good, it is good, it is good, this is good, this is a good challenge, this is a good confrontation. Imagine, the 450 prophets of Baal, put an altar together, they made their own altar, brothers and sisters, don't make your own altar, you can only worship at God's altar, they made their own altar, we'll worship this way, they cut up an animal, they put it on there, there were the pieces of the animal, so they started crying out to Baal, all their chanting, it's like new age mantras were going up on all the high places of Israel. Crying out to Baal, going on and on and on, they jumped up and down, they got on top of the altar, they were shouting, they were screaming, they were banging all these weird instruments, they even cut themselves with knives, and there was no answer, they would wait, and there was silence, and the people who had been steeped in all of this superstition, all of this demonic stuff, that Jezebel and Ahab had brought into Israel, they were watching, and nothing happened, finally, it was almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Elijah came, and Elijah said, come near to me, and he restored the altar of the Lord, the altar of Jehovah on Mount Carmel, it had been torn down, there had been an altar there, where pure sacrifice had been done, maybe Joshua's people came in at some point, we don't know, but there had been an altar, he restored it, the 12 stones, and when he took the 12 stones, which represented the sons of Jacob, he says, and the 12 tribes of Israel, he was saying, the tribes are going to come back, it was a prophetic act, because the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin were separated from the northern tribes, so he was saying, there's going to be unity, the 12 tribes will be back, and we see this on Mount Carmel, as a prophetic picture for our day, the 12 tribes are back, the fire is going to fall on them, hallelujah, he put the 12 stones, he put wood on there, branches of trees, I guess, they cut up an animal, they put bloody animal pieces on there, he had them take water from a brook, a spring, they poured it on there, with 4 pitchers, they did it 3 times, 12 times, water was all over it, he dug a trench around it, and then he prayed a simple, simple prayer, let me read it to you, this is what he said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, he said, Israel, not Jacob, 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, 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 again, this simple prayer, his courage came from, I have done all of these things, you told me exactly what to do, now I have done it, I know you are going to answer, you told me the God who answers by fire, you are going to answer by fire, he prayed this simple prayer, there must have been a holy hush all over that mountain, and then all of a sudden, the heavens were torn open, the people must have looked up, and there from above came this fireball, this supernatural fireball of the presence of God coming from heaven, came down and hit that altar, hit that animal, the animal burst in flames, the people must have screamed, the wood burned up, the water burned up, the stones burned up, everything was burned up, there was nothing left but ashes, and all of a sudden, the people, one by one, they started to fall on their faces and cried, Adonai, who Elohim, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God, God had returned to Israel, because one man took a stand against the idolatry in his nation, oh, brothers and sisters, you don't want to be like Ahab, not in these days, we need the Elijah legacy, the spirit and power of Elijah turns the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to the fathers, the earth is cursed because we have so many fatherless children all over the world, John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and Jesus said, he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist, brothers and sisters, Elijah is coming and he will restore all things, Jesus said, we need an Elijah army of men and women who are consecrated, committed in communion with the Lord, who have courage, who have compassion for the lost, oh, may it be here in Israel, and may it be in your nation. 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