Reading in 1 Kings...

[Omni_Skittles]

So check this out...

1 Kings 18:26-39

1 Ki 18:26-39

26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.

"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord-he is God! The Lord-he is God!"

NIV



So I was reading this and i was just thinking about a few things and this is kind of what it comes to....

1. How did the prophets of Baal approach their God?



Shout out his name

Dance

cut themselves

prophesy




This kind of sounds a lot like Christians now a days... we are all seeking to convince our God that we are worthy to be loved, kind of like the prophets were to Baal... to understand this a bit more this is what Elijah was dealing with... known as the Baal Theology

1. Humans were a nuisance

2. Abusive master. Humans are slaves.

3. Omnipresent

4. Not held to the any code of conduct

5. Summoned through incantations.

6. He slept.

This kind of relationship the Prophets of Baal have is like a barter relationship. Like you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours... They had to convince their god that they were lovable!

the second thing i looked at is how Elijah approached God

1. Repentance- Elijah prays to God

2. Renewed covenant


verse 31


3. Displayed Confidence shown is verse 33.

4. He spoke... bible study classes teaches me that explanation points are showed to show emphasis but in these versus Elijah spoke.

Ha this is kind of a sermon!

3. How do you approach God in your worship?

Many times I'm in chapel and i dance, prophesy, shout and try to prove to God that I'm worthy of his time, and that I'm worthy of his love and forget that i am loved! And i learned from this that i shouldn't worship God to be loved... it's amazing to know that I don't serve a God who i have to prove to him that i'm worthy but scriptures show me that you are loved and should worship him that way!!

[mikeinie]

All that being what it is….

Great photo of you, you look fabulous.

For me.. I buy him a beer and we have a good old chat

[Omni_Skittles]

mikeinie;1145977 wrote: All that being what it is….

Great photo of you, you look fabulous.

For me.. I buy him a beer and we have a good old chat:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl random.

[Ted]

It is certainly an interesting and entertaining story. The "International Commentary" on pg 626 says "The drama is a fine example of the story tellers are."

The story is a myth but that is not the point. In fact to take it literally is miss deeper meaning to be found therein. According the the Jewish Rabbinic scholars such a story has a multiple of meanings which require a lot of thought and study.

It is a story designed, first of all, to persuade the reader of God's great power and to dissuade the Jewish people from following another faith.

The real question should not be did this really happen but what did it mean when it was written and what does it mean for us today.

Shalom

Ted:-6

[spot]

Skittles, you left out the order Elijah gave to the people after they'd prostrated themselves!