How Long?

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1 Kings 18:17-21

17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him ,"Is that you, O troubler of Israel?" 

18 And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." 

 20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.

God’s men, God’s true prophets have always been seen as troublemakers. Time does not allow us but if it did I could show you many passages throughout scripture where God’s men were seen as trouble makers. I stand before you today to say that,

If Elijah was seen by the world as a trouble maker, 

If Moses was seen as a trouble maker,

If Jerimiah was seen as a trouble maker, 

If John the Baptist was seen as a trouble maker, 

If the disciples were seen as a trouble maker, 

If Jesus Christ was seen as a trouble maker, 

then I can’t think of better company that I would rather be associated with!

To borrow a phrase from an old hymn of the church, I’m glad I’m one of them! 

At the time of this text Israel had a strong military but was in economic, moral and religious decline. Famine, brought about by the prayers of Elijah in an attempt to cause the people to turn back to God, had griped the nation for over three years. 

Food and water were scarce, but the greatest problem facing the nation was the acceptance of Idolatry and immorality of which Ahab’s wife, Jezebel was a shining  example.  The Idolatry and immorality were brought about in large part through Ahab’s pursuit of pleasure. He had made an alliance with the Phoenicians who were the foremost economic powerhouse of the day and had sealed the deal by marrying Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Tyre.

The title of our message and the thought I want to look at is found in the last verse, v21

21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.

There is a truth buried here in plain sight that is the focus of all I will say today. Here it is:

They were serving God and Baal at the same time. They had not abandoned the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but neither were they serving Him as He had commanded. 

Deut 5:7-9

7 'You shall have no other gods before Me. 

8 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…

All that I have shared thus far has a striking similarity to our day…

I am deeply saddened. Saddened that our national pursuit of pleasure rather than the pursuit of God has brought us to this place of repeated carnage.

I am deeply saddened that the American church has become so obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure rather than the pursuit of God that we have lost so much of our influence and impact on the American culture that this repeated carnage can go on in our nation.

All of us have watched in sorrow and horror at the senseless massacre in the tiny Texas town of Uvalde and the recent 4th of July shootings.

We have all asked the same questions:

How could this happen?

What went wrong?

Where will it happen next? One of our schools? Our parades?

What is it going to take to stop this?

While you have heard plenty of statics let me give you some of them again. If my numbers differ from what you have heard I apologize. I have done my best to get the right information.

Since the Columbine massacre of April 1999 nearly 200 people, mostly students have been killed in school shootings.

There have been 27 school shootings this year alone

There have been over 200 mass shootings since Jan 1

How Long?

While all the above questions are valid, I want to ask some different questions. Ones that are going to make us uncomfortable.

+How long will we continue to believe that we can have a disregard for the life of the unborn, all in the name of the pursuit of pleasure, and it not have a cheapening effect on life as a whole in our society?

+How long will we continue to believe that the destruction of the family has had no effect on our society?

+How Long will we continue to believe that our neglect and/or outright abandonment of God has had no effect on our society?

+How long will the Church continue to be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God and believe it has no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to believe that we can neglect the house of God as it suits us and it have no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to believe that we can use our jobs as an excuse for our neglect of the house of God and it have no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to allow ourselves, our family, our society to disintegrate before we are awakened from our spiritual stupor?

How Long?

How long will we continue to deceive ourselves into believing that because:

We do not have school shootings we are ok

We do not have homeless people living in the streets we are ok

We do not have rioter destroying our city we are ok

We do not have Gay Pride Parades we are ok

We do not have pimps and prostitutes walking the streets we are ok

We do not have sex trafficking we are ok

We do not have Homosexuality, CRT and BLM taught in our schools we are ok

We do not have to fear for our lives in or out of our house we are ok

We do not have drug pushers on the corners we are ok

We do not have beer joints, honky tonks, strip joints and liquor stores we are ok

We do not have an abortion clinic we are ok

We do not have abortion advocates attacking churches we are ok 

But we are not ok.

After these types of tragedies we become spiritually reflective, for a little while but it soon fades. If a tragedy like the one in Texas happened here in Collinwood the churches could not hold the people. But let the pain subside and the emotion dissipate and week by week people would  fall away and go back to life as usual.  

2 Tim 3:1-5

 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Friends, I am under no illusion. I am a realist. I have read the Bible. I cannot change the world. But maybe, just maybe I, you, we can change Collinwood.

That maybe, just maybe, that somehow someway God’s people, those who profess to love God, will stop being so self-focused and start being God focused.

You say, “Well, what does that look like pastor?” I’m glad you asked. Here are just a few for starters:

Matt 22:36-40

36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'   38 This is the first and great commandment.  39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'   40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." 

Matt 6:31-34

 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 

Hebrews 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

Friends, the hordes of hell have been unleased. Satan’s time is short. We will not combat the evil that has been unleashed through legislation with more gun laws, social programs or activities. We do not need more things to occupy our kids time. What they need is Jesus!

If more parents would get their kids to church instead of a ball game we would see the spiritual water level rise in our city and community. But as long as we pursue pleasure and those things which appeal to the flesh instead of the spirit the spiritual water level will continue to go down. 

How Long?

I want to close with some of the questions I opened with:

+How Long will we continue to believe that our neglect and/or outright abandonment of God has had no effect on our society?

+How long will the Church continue to be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God and believe it has no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to believe that we can neglect the house of God as it suits us and it have no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to believe that we can use our jobs as an excuse for our neglect of the house of God and it have no effect on us, our family or our society?

+How long will we continue to allow ourselves, our family, our society to disintegrate before we are awakened from our spiritual lethargy?

How Long?

1Kgs 18

21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.

May God grip each of our hearts.

Be blessed!

Bishop Nelson Moffett

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