Elijah. His name means Yahweh's God.

His blood seems to boil against tolerating idols

so yielded to God that he is upset at the face of a God competition, exceptional in the prophetic.

No record of his mother or father.

He simply shows up on the scene filled with the power of God, he is radical, uncompromising, aflame.

The king literally called him the troubler of Israel. He was so ostracized that he thought he was the only prophet left.

His value for God's presence was exceptional.

He calls out sin at the sight or sense of it.

Elijah would say God before whom I stand. Even when he is obviously physically standing before a man,

his God consciousness made him stand out from others because he always stood before God.

He was so great that many years after he had been taken away from the earth, when people saw Christ performing mind-blowing miracles, they concluded that Elijah must be back, a man of prayer.

Described by two words in the book of Luke, spirit and power.

Elijah multiplied the widow's meal, she never ran out of bread.

He took a dead boy into the upper room and brought him back alive.

He prayed and the weather climate of a country changed for three and a half years.

He supernaturally outran horses and chariots for 31 miles straight.

A real living man possessed by the spirit of God.

And one day at Mount Camel, more like a massive stadium, and then he makes his signature unforgettable remark and we will always remember. 1 Kings 18.21 Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer will you try to have things both ways, if the Lord is God, worship him. But if Baal is God, worship him. And the people did not say a word.

But then, there is one greater than Elijah.

One whose name doesn't just point men to God, he is the sight of God himself. He goes beyond multiplying bread. He gives himself as daily bread. He gives himself as our constant nourishment. He multiplies himself in our heart as his love is shared abroad in our heart. He is life and life to us.

So Elijah will call rain from the skies, but Jesus pours out his spirit from on high. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and we know from scriptures the kind of rain that falls when Christ prays. I will open rivers in high places, fountains in the midst of the valley. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. Much more he lets the fountain that flows from him flow into us and out of our bellies flow rivers of living water.

He led captivity captive. He parried him down the street, conquered by the cross. Jesus disarmed all rulers, all principalities, all authorities. He didn't slay the prophet of Baal. Jesus with his blood and his breath slayed the antichrist and the dreadful dragon.

Jesus has won. He is winning. He always wins everything orchestrated by his own hands. There is no competition. He wears the victor's crown. He wins by breathing. Elijah called down fire on an altar filled with water but Jesus says that I have come to set the entire earth on fire. He who is from above is above all and this living Christ deserves living worship. And the call of Elijah is simple. How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him. But the people were completely silent.

But today, don't respond with silence. Respond with a prayer.

Let's pray together. Would you say after me,

Jesus, here's my heart and I open it to you. Show me any area that I've been compromising. Show me tolerations. Things I have conveniently allowed to compete for my affection and attention. Show me Lord where it has not been all for you and all to you and all of you.

Today, I want to freshly lay down my life. Torn from all sin. Torn from all selfishness. Torn from managing my own life. Torn from half-heartedness. From compromise. From lukewarmness. And I want to respond to the fire that Christ has called to the earth and worship only God in the way that he deserves and he demands.

God bless you.