God Can Make Kingdoms Tremble

I believe we live in a day of great darkness in the land, where society is spinning out of control and no one in Washington has any answers to this nation's biggest challenges. In former days, one could look to the church for guidance, but I fear the modern church is out of step with the almighty as she stumbles along with the latest man-centered methodologies. But when I read my Bible, friends, I see a God who makes kingdoms tremble, and that God is not dead, friends.

My Bible declares that, with God, all things are possible. Do you believe that? I had even forgotten that myself, or I had become desensitized to the status quo of church as usual on Sunday morning, and I had overlooked the spiritual reality of a living God who can indeed do all things at any time he pleases. You see, friends, we have to separate our thinking from this world of a self-satisfied God-designer and Christ-rejecting men and women who are crawling over each other's backs on a mad rush to hell, and we have to be careful that, as believers, we don't fall into the mundane of the cloudy atmosphere of the church in our day that quit believing in the God who does miracles long ago.

God is still the same God in my Bible, and He is a wonder-working God, but I fear there are few of us who really believe it today. I remember Vance Havner saying something along these lines. If we say we serve such a dynamite God, then why are so many of us living firecracker lives? And that's where I'm going with this message today, friends.

We have to believe that the God of Elijah can still make kingdoms tremble in our day. What God requires of us is an unconditional surrender to the Lordship of His blessed Son in your life and mine, and God requires of us to have the faith of an Elijah who did not fear to stand boldly before a despot king and cry out, Thus saith the Lord. I want to take some time today, friends, to immerse ourselves in our Bibles and renew our faith in our God.

I believe the church is to blame for shrinking God down to our size and putting Him on a human level, but He is Almighty God. Pastors in former days, when they prayed, would refer to the Almighty as the Great God, and He still is great and almighty. My message today, friends, is entitled, God Can Make a Kingdom Tremble.

I want us to turn in our Bibles to 1 Kings 17. We will begin in verses 1-7, and then I will walk us over to chapter 18, where Elijah is found on Mount Carmel contesting the phony prophets of Baal. But first, allow me to read us this striking passage of scripture from chapter 17.

1 And the ravens brought him bread, and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. I will stop there, friends.

First see the faith of Elijah, as he does not fear man, but only his God. As he announces to King Ahab of the coming drought, you see, friends, Elijah had heard his God, and he believed his God was able to do anything that with God all things were possible, even the stopping up of heavens from rain. And notice also the prayer life of Elijah, as he shuts himself up with God at the brook Kareth, where he waits and meditates on further instructions from the Almighty.

And I want you also to notice the humble attitude of this prophet, who is willing to be fed by ravens from their leftover meals. The prophet Elijah by the brook Kareth is a vivid portrait of a man on the full stretch for God, and fully surrendered to the will of God in his life. Can that be said of us? I hope it can.

I pray it can. Now I want us to turn in our Bibles over to chapter 18, where Elijah contests the prophets of Baal, and where God tests the faith of Elijah, and where the people of God return back to God because of the demonstration of God on Mount Carmel in consuming the sacrifice. Allow me to read us verses 30 through 39.

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. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

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. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid them on the wood, and said, I'll fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. 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. And the water ran round about the altar, and he filled the also with water. 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.

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. 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. 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.

I will stop there, friends. Now notice how God honors Elijah's work here on top Mount Carmel. First thing, the altar had to be repaired.

Oh, how our sanctuaries today need repair as well, and a return to the Most High God. Notice next that the prophet acted on faith by pouring water all over the sacrifice, going against modern thought and modern reason. Listen, friends, when God is at work, he works against all human reason and against all self-reliance.

That's why the church in our day lacks power from on high, because she'd rather try to run her organization on things seen, like money and manpower, rather than the unseen things of God, of prayer and holy ghost power. Now notice how God honors the faith and obedience of Elijah by consuming the sacrifice before that assembled crowd of gainsayers, and doubters, and devil worshipers. Listen to the faith of Elijah as he calls the wayward people back to God in verse 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. This is the very thing we need in our churches today, friends, returning back to the God of the Bible, the God of Elijah, the great God who can still perform miracles and who can still make kingdoms tremble. My Lord said that the gates of hell should not prevail against the church, but in our day of a weak faith and a weak walk, Satan is making advances.

But it's up to the church to rise up and become a church militant once again, and believe in the God of all majesty and power. O friends, how we need to fall to our faces and confess our lack of faith, and turn from our self-reliance and return back to the God of Elijah and believe that he can come and bring revival to his church and pour out his spirit in a spiritual awakening in the land. Let us take time now to go to our knees in prayer and ask God to invigorate us by his spirit to believe him as we should that with God all things are possible.

Let us pray.