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Luke 24:49 49
Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Acts 1:4 4
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
In Luke 24:49 it says to stay of in the city of Jerusalem and in Acts 1:4 it is He commanded them to stay.
In 1Kings 18, Elijah has a showdown with the followers of Baal.
When Elijah meets the children of Israel he gives them a challenge.
1 Kings 18:23-24 23
Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.
24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
Now the challenge was accepted.
1 Kings 18:25-29 25
Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry [c]aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
The followers of Baal got the sacrifice ready and offer it to their Gods. And after they stayed until noon calling out to Baal to take the sacrifice. Then they began to dance, cut themselves, call out more to Baal. And nothing happened.
Now it was Elijah's turn.
Then Elijah repaired the altar and put wood under it and cut the sacrifice and placed it on the altar. Then Elijah did something that would make it more incredible, that is he had them pour water on the sacrifice and the altar 3 times.
Then Elijah dug a ditch all the way around the altar and fill it with water. Then Elijah call on God and then in
1 Kings 18:38-39 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
I believe that God is working in our midst over the past few months. We have seen some great services lately and some mighty moves of the Holy Spirit.
We have seen people healed, come out of hospitals, and people that have received peace in their heart. It did not come without a sacrifice of time spent in prayer.
We find ourselves often times broken with heartache and or sin. When we are broken we need to come before the Lord and give it to him.
When you are broken you need to lay it on the altar, give it to God. If we will give our sins, our problem, and our disappointments to God then he will send down the Fire of God to touch our lives.