Transcription
Welcome to our scary series, Monsters in the Closet. Would you turn in your Bibles this morning to First Kings in your Old Testament, First Kings, chapter 18. First Kings, chapter 18.
Now I realize as we are doing this message this morning on Baal and the love of money, power and prosperity that this probably has little to do with the congregation like you that is so generous uh over the years have given to so many projects we have done to reach out to this community and we do thank you for that. But we are in this series and I wanted to uh point something out in First Kings chapter 18.
To begin, I just want to show you uh an album that I brought. This is uh Bob Dylan. This is his second of three Christian albums that he produced. This one was in 1980. It's called Saved. That's the name of the album, Saved. S A V D. Uh he wanted to announce to the world that he was saved. And uh there's the title song, the title cut is called A Satisfied Mind. I always thought Dylan wrote it and then I found out it was written back in the 1950s uh by two authors, uh Red Hayes and Jack Rhodess. And um so uh Dylan did a copy of it. He did a cover of it. It's his opening song. As I said, it's not really much of a song. It's just sort of a chant. but on his album. But here's some of the lyrics.
Satisfied Mind.
How many times have you heard someone say, "If I had his money, I could do things my way." But little they know that it's so hard to find one rich man in 10 with a satisfied mind. Once I was waiting in fortune and fame, everything that I dreamed for to get a start in life's game, then suddenly it happened. I lost every dime. But I'm richer by far with a satisfied mind. Money can't buy back your youth when you're old, or a friend when you're lonely, or a love that's grown cold. The wealthiest person is a popper at times compared to the man with a satisfied mind. When my life has ended and my time has run out, my friends and my loved ones, I'll leave. There's no doubt. But one thing's for certain. When it comes my time, I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind. I remember that. Well, I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind.
Well, Satan is the god of this age, and there's one thing he does not want you to have, and that is a satisfied mind. In fact, uh, Satan and all of his demons work really hard to get people on earth very, very unsatisfied. That's why there's even a commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." Because that's just part of human nature, is it not? To be dissatisfied. Proverbs 27 tells us, "Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a man are never satisfied."
Today, we're going to look at the worship of a god that gave the children of Israel lots of problems. His name was Baal. Bale. B A L. That's our anglicized pronunciation. The actual Hebrew pronunciation is Baal. But it's weird to try for us to do that every time. So, I'll probably just say Baal uh for most of this message. So, we're going to look at um a very important contest with the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Bahal or Baal in First Kings 18.
Before we do, let me just show you that this concept shows itself in the New Testament under a different title and that is the title mammon. Four times Jesus uses that term, the term mammon, an Aramaic word for wealth. But Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. He'll hate one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
Now, as I said, mammon is usually interpreted as just another term for wealth or prosperity or materialism. But some scholars including uh Gregory of Nissa 4th century, John Chrissum fifth century, Peter Lombard 12th century. Throughout the centuries, people have actually understood Mammon to be a demon. Medieval theologians assigned seven arch demons to the seven deadly sins and mammon was regarded as the demon of greed. Now all of that is conjecture but it's interesting that throughout history uh behind prosperity, greed, wealth, the love of money was this idea that it was induced by demons. We're going to look at the monster of the love of money, power, and prosperity through this lens of Baal worship.
Now, as I mentioned, the worship of Baal was very prominent in the Old Testament. It only shows up in the Old Testament. 90 times the Bible mentions the worship of Baal. It's in 19 books of the Old Testament. First Kings 18 represents the peak of that false worship system when King Ahab who is married to uh his wife by the name of Jezebel they're very infamous couple. It was a marriage made in hell. Ahab and Jezebel kind of fostered this idea of false worship of Baal and they themselves were into it. So, this chapter is when there's a face off between Elijah the prophet, very, very bold, in-your-face kind of a guy, as he comes and approaches King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.
I'm going to give you four words. They're in your worship folder. four words that sum up this story and four words that frame our role in the culture we live in. The four words are courage, contest, confrontation, and cause.
First of all, courage. Elijah, as you will see, was a man of great courage. Verse 15, let me take it to that verse. First Kings 18:15. Then Elijah said, "As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him, that is King Ahab, today." So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Now, quick note, Oadiah is not the prophet Obadiah. Obadiah is a guy that worked for King Ahab. So Elijah goes to Oadiah. Obadiah goes to Ahab. Ahab now and Elijah meet together. That's verse 17. Then it happened. When Ahab, King Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is that you, oh troubler of Israel?" 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 bales." Here's a prophet who is very courageous. He speaks truth to power. And it's a very dangerous proposition because if you know anything about King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, they just killed people they didn't like. So for the prophet to just say, you know what, you're the problem, not me. Is putting himself out there. It's it's courage. Uh Spurgeon used to say, never preach just to be understood, but rather preach so that it's impossible to be misunderstood. That's Elijah. It was impossible to misunderstand what he was trying to get across.
Now, why does King Ahab call Elijah a troubler of Israel? Here's why. Three and a half years prior to this meeting, Elijah proclaimed that it would not rain. So, for three and a half years, there's been a drought. There's been a famine. Back in chapter 17, he said, "As the Lord of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor rain these years except at my word." Now, I love that he said that little phrase before whom I stand. When he says that here, he says uh in verse 15 or in verse yeah 15, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand. There is the key to courage. If you can stand before the Lord, you can stand before anybody. Or maybe I should put it a different way. If you bow before the Lord, you can stand before anyone. It's because Elijah stood before his God and bowed before him in worship that he was able to stand up to King Ahab before whom I stand.
Now, you should also know that this three and a half year drought wasn't something Elijah himself caused. It was just something he himself proclaimed. He proclaimed a judgment on the people of Israel that God had promised back in Deuteronomy 11. God said in that passage, "Look, if you obey me, I'm going to water your land with abundant rain. I'm going to prosper you. I'm going to take care of you. But if you if you turn from me and forsake me and disobey me, it's not going to rain. Part of my judgment will be I will withhold rain from you." So he sends a drought. And let me just say that a drought is like the perfect judgment God could send because Baal worshippers believe that Baal, their God, was in charge of giving them rain and controlling the sun and bringing fertility. And archaeologists have actually found depictions of Baal holding in one hand a thunderbolt as if to say, "I control the weather." So, it hasn't rained for three years as part of the judgment on Baal and the Baal worshippers. But this king wants to blame Elijah. Is that you, oh troubler of Israel? Have you noticed that unbelievers make dumb choices sometimes and then want to blame God for the choices they make? Or because they can't see God, they blame you as God's representative for the choices they make. It's not God's fault and it's not your fault. It's their fault. That's sort of like um getting drunk, running into traffic, getting hit by a truck, breaking your leg, and then suing the truck manufacturer and the driver for your condition. So this blameshifting going on here, you know how far back it goes? Goes all the way to the garden, right? That's exactly what Adam did when God said to Adam, "What have you done?" And Adam said, "It's the woman that you gave me." So, it's actually your fault. It wasn't my idea. It was your idea. But Elijah is courageous.
Now, just a word about this god, Baal, Baal. The the name Baal means Lord, but he was regarded as the chief of the gods, the supreme god. He was worshiped by most of the Canaanites and the Phoenetians, that country, what is modern-day Lebanon, just above Canaan. And sometimes in your Bible, it appears in the plural. There's an S at the end, bales, because different regions worship Baal in different ways. Sort of like we have denominations in Christianities. You know, you got Baptist, you got Methodist, you got different denominations. There were like denominations of Baalism where one group would emphasize one attribute of Baal over another. Another group would worship another attribute of God or emphasize that over yet another. So there was Baal of Peor, Numbers 25, Baal Berit, Judges 8, and a number of local areas that added the name Baal to their town. So it was Baal this and Baal that because they're worshiping a different attribute. Something else FYI, uh, some traditions held that Baal was the son of Deeon. D- A G- O N. Now, some of you know what that is. Deeon was the chief god of the Philistines. And isn't it interesting that in the New Testament, Jesus refers to Satan as Bzeub. So he links Satan to Baal Zabub which was one of the gods worshiped by the Philistines. At any rate, this god Baal was the storm god, the fertility god. He sent rain. He helped crops to grow. He gave people children, they thought. And so he was in essence the god of wealth and prosperity. So three and a half years of a famine in the land was quite an embarrassment to the god Baal and his followers.
Question, what drew the people of God to worship Baal? Why on earth would the children of Israel worship the false god of Baal? Easy answer. It was the promise of prosperity. It was the promise of wealth. These were simple farmers, the children of Israel. They're out there tilling the land. They're out there working the land, working hard. And when times got tough, they were tempted to invoke the powers of the local God that people said would give them wealth and prosperity. You want to know how he was depicted? Baal was depicted as a bull, a bull. Often it was a bull with a it was the a man with the head of a bull and the horns of a bull. Sometimes he was bearded, sometimes he was not. Sometimes he had a helmet, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he was just portrayed as a bull. Okay, let's just keep that up for a minute. That is an ancient small bull that was found that depicts the god Baal. What I find interesting, and it might just be coincidental, that one of the most popular sites in New York City is the symbol of the American stock market that looks like this. Again, could be a coincidence, but here is a molten image of a bull. Think golden calf for just a moment. This is a charging bowl almost 12 feet tall, 16 feet long. And isn't it interesting when our economy gets really good, when the market surges, they call it a bull market. And um we even jokingly refer to the dollar as the almighty dollar. That could all be coincidental. Maybe not. Maybe Satan really isn't all that creative after all. He just sort of uh reimposes himself in another culture.
But I wanna I want to have you listen to the words of one of our presidents, Abraham Lincoln, who said to the people of his time, quote, "We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God." That is what the prophet Elijah is saying to King Ahab, the king of the people of Israel. You might have prosperity, but you have forgotten God. To make matters even worse, there is now a gospel out there called the prosperity gospel. that actually has made chasing after wealth and prosperity and money a sign of godliness. The Bible warns against that, but it's out there. So that's the first word, courage. The prophet comes to the king, points his prophet finger in his face and basically says, "You have forgotten God and it's your fault that this has happened."
Second word is the word contest. The prophet Elijah calls for a contest, a battle, battle of the gods. It's Elijah's idea. Look at verse 19 of chapter 18. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asher, who eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent for the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, then follow him." But the people answered him, "Not a word." Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the Lord." But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Therefore, let them give us two bowls. Let them choose one bull for themselves. Cut it in pieces. Lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bull. Lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then here's the contest. You call on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord that is Yahweh. and the God who answers by fire, he is God. So all the people answered and said, "It is well spoken."
Now this is a fair contest, right? If Baal is supposedly the one who controls the forces of nature, the sun, the rain, etc. Um, lightning bolt in his hand, fired from heaven, then this is a fair contest. It's a battle of the gods. And the place is perfect because it is Mount Carmel. It is the highest point on a mountain range that goes from the Mediterranean to the Valley of Armageddon. It's one of the high places in Israel. If you go with us on a tour to Israel, usually on day number two, about midday, we are on top of Mount Carmel and we're reading this chapter. The idea of worshiping on a high place was the idea of dominance. If you control the highest places, you dominate the land. So they worshiped on the high places. Moreover, the Phoenicians who worshiped Baal believed that Mount Carmel was the sacred dwelling place of Baal. Because if you ever go there and see it, it's just green. It's fertile. And they would look at Mount Carmel and say, "This is because Baal has blessed this place so abundantly." So, I just want you to get this picture. The reason they're on Mount Carmel is Elijah the prophet is giving the Baal worship worshippers a home field advantage. We're playing on your turf with your audience. In fact, in verse 19, look how many there are. 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asher, and how many with Elijah? None. It's just one against all of them. He is outnumbered. It's one against about a thousand of them. But that's not how he saw it. This was not a contest of numbers in Elijah's mind. This was a battle between the truth and a lie. between worshiping God and a demon. He was so black and white, so clear-cut. I love what Martin Luther used to say. Martin Luther said, "With God, one is a majority." Elijah knew that he was in the majority. He had God on his side. He was after the glory of God. Daniel and his friends stood in Babylon alone. Paul stood in Ephesus alone. Joshua stood before the people of Israel who were wavering alone.
But let's continue our story. There's a lot of it, so I don't want to take too much time. Verse 25. Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bowl for yourselves. prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under it." So they took the bowl, which is given to them. They prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal. Get this, from morning until noon. That's a like a 4-hour church service at least. And they were saying, "Oh, Baal, hear us." But there was no voice. No one answered. And they leaped about on the altar which they had made. So it was at noon. This is my favorite verse in the whole chapter. So it was at noon. Elijah mocked them and he said, "Cry louder for he is a god." Like wink wink. Either he is meditating or he is busy or he is on a journey or perhaps he's sleeping and you got to wake him up. So they cried louder and they cut themselves as was their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. And so it was when midday was passed that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. So the 4-hour worship service is now like 6 8 hours. But there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Elijah waited till noon before he started mocking them. Why noon? Because noon is when the sun crosses the local meridian. And in the right season of the year, the sun is at its highest position, greatest strength. And if if Baal is the god of the sun and the rain and prosperity, then he should be able to be reached at noon. But Elijah mocks them. And uh he says maybe he's traveling. He's on a journey. And the Phoenicians believe that whenever they traveled by sea that Baal would accompany them on their journey. But there's a word that I just want to point out to you because it's hardly ever translated correctly in scriptural translations and that's the word busy. Do you see that in that verse? For he's meditating or he is busy. I think the Bible translators just didn't want to translate it because it was such a delicate term. It actually means this literally. Maybe he's relieving himself. How's that for a mockery? Maybe your God is on the toilet. That's the actual translation. He's relieving himself. He's busy.
Now, the reason he's mocking isn't because he's just a mean person. He knew that nobody's going to answer because nobody's there. There is no god named Baal. If anything, there's just a demon behind that worship. But they called on this God all day long. And I've noticed that everyone has some God that when life is really bad and the bottom drops out, they will call in distress, they will call on that God only to find nobody's on the other line. Nobody's on the other end. Nobody picks up. I remember years ago when I worked in hospitals in radiology, I was on call. I came in, there was a woman in the ER. She was on a gurnie, a stretcher. But what I noticed is that on the stretcher were a pile of books and they were all religious books. There was a Bible, there was a book on new age beliefs, there was a book on crystals, there was all this. And it all those books contradicted all the other books in the pile. But it was as if she's saying, "I'm in distress and I'm holding on to whatever's out there for help." It reminds me of the story of the soldier in the foxhole. It was during a war. He jumps in the foxhole and he has on his neck a chain and on the chain is a cross and next to the cross a star of David. And next to the Star of David, a crescent moon for Islam. And next to the crescent moon, a little Buddha and so forth. Just a series of all these different charms. And a soldier jumps in next to him, sees the things dangling on the chain, says, "What is it exactly you believe in?" And the soldier said, "I don't know, but in my condition, I can't afford to make anybody mad." Right? He's just calling on whatever's out there for help.
Now, let's continue the story and we'll finish it up. Verse 30. Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." Okay, after their shenanigans. So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two saves of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood and said, "Fill four water part pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." And then he said, "Do it a second time." They did it a second time. He said, "Do it a third time." They did it a third time. What's he doing? He's stacking the odds against him. He's making the sacrifice wet because things that are wet can't burn. Most people think it's about to burn. So, the water ran all around the altar and also filled the trench 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 Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done these things at your word. Hear me, oh Lord. Hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God. You have turned their hearts back to you again." Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed, watch this, the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.
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." What a contrast. Elijah's simple, calm prayer. What a contrast to the frenzied, emotional nonsense for hours that these false prophets were going through. Elijah does things decently and in order, calmly. He takes 12 stones that represent whom? 12 tribes of Israel and puts it on a little altar. Does that remind you of last week's message when they went through the Jordan River and they took those 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel? Why is Elijah doing this? He's reminding the audience of their history. Remember, he is saying to them, as I put these stones one upon another, remember what God has done for you in your history. Think back to all that the Lord has blessed you with. So, when it's all done and God honors his prayer and consumes the sacrifice, the people are just blown away and they shout out their belief. They reaffirm their belief in God. They say the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. By the way, in essence, they're chanting Elijah's name because the name Elijah means the Lord is God. Yahweh is God. So that's the courage and that's the contest.
Let me give you a third word, confrontation. I want to take you back to verse 21. This is right before the contest. He approaches the people of Israel. Verse 21. Elijah came to all the people and said, here's the question. 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. He is issuing a confrontational ultimatum. He's confronting them. He's challenging them. And he says, "How long will you falter between two opinions?" Literally, it means, "How long will you limp between two twigs or hop between two forks?" You come to a fork in the road. You don't know which road to take. So, you go, "I'm going to go to the right." No, wait a minute. Maybe I'll go to the left. Yeah, but if I go to the left, then I can't go to the right. So maybe I'll go to the right, but then I might miss out. So you don't know which way to go. So when he says this, he knows he's dealing with a crowd that is undecided, unresolved, uncommitted, and wavering. Not taking one side God or the other side Baal. I don't know which to choose. I kind of like them both. Here's what you need to know about this. It's not like Israel was totally apostate and saying, "I don't believe in God. I don't worship Yahweh anymore." What they were saying is, "I want to worship God, but I'd also like to worship Baal. I kind of want to do both. I want to follow God and worship God, but I really want the wealth and prosperity that will come from following Baal. So, I'd like to combine the worship systems together." It's called syncratism. syncratism and that is a very popular way of worshiping today. Today people's way of worship is like smorgesborg theology. You stand in line, you go, "Oh, I'd like I'd like a side of Christianity. I'll hold the guilt, please. I'd like a little bit of new age spices and a little bit of self-help ideology and throw it all in. Mix it together and I'll make my way of worshiping God." That's what they were doing. So Elijah is calling on them to make a choice between one or the other and then go allin with that choice. Make a choice and go allin. Worship God or worship Baal. Make up your mind. Quit going back and forth. I want to make the same appeal. Don't take the name of Jesus on your lips while you deny him with your life. Let's make a choice. Be a Christian. Be a real Christian. And [snorts] a real Christian is one who surrenders his or her life to Jesus. Or to put it in the words of James 18, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Now this conf confronting ultimatum, this confrontation is uh very much like that of Joshua who stood before the people of Israel back in Joshua 24 and he said choose this day whom you will serve whether it's the gods on that your fathers worshiped on the other side of the river or it's the true and living God. Better for me in my house. We will >> serve the Lord. Make a choice. I've made my choice. I'm going to serve the Lord. Elijah's challenge is like that. Elijah's challenge was like the challenge Jesus himself gave when he taught the sermon on the mount. Sermon on the mount. Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7. At the end of Matthew 7, Jesus says this, "Enter into the narrow gate, for wide is the gate that leads to destruction, and many people go that way." Enter into the narrow gate. He didn't say admire the gate. He didn't say ponder the gate. He didn't say add the gate to other gatelike options. He said enter it. Go in. Make a choice. I remember a poem I heard years ago and it was written by a guy named James Addison Alexander. I bet you've heard it. There is a time we know not when, a line we know not where that marks the destiny of man twixed sorrow and despair. There is a line though by man unseen once it has been crossed. Even God in all his love hath sworn that all is lost. So it's time to make a choice. You make a choice and you'll discover your choice will turn around and make you. And what you choose is all important. Think of flies and fly paper. It makes a big difference which side of the fly paper that fly decides to land on, right? life will either be good or very bad. So confrontation is the third word.
And the fourth word, we'll close with this, is cause. Cause. What is it that caused this prophet to risk his life, approach King Ahab, and call for a contest against the prophets of Baal? What is it that brought that motivation? What caused it? Well, go to go to the end of the chapter. Go to verse 36. Let's look at that little prayer. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and he said, now here's this prayer. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your word. Verse 37 is the heart of it. Hear me, oh Lord. Hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. This is in his prayer. This is his motivation. He wanted God to be glorified. He wanted God to be known again in Israel. He wanted the people to turn back to God. That's his heart. That's his motive. That's the cause for which he did all this. He knew that they worshiped prosperity and power and money in worshiping Baal. But he also knew that if they were to turn back to God and seek first the kingdom of God that all these things would be added to them. So it's a very simple prayer. In fact, just notice this. Um, let's look at it this way. Let's just say a six-hour worship service. Okay, that's probably there's probably even longer than that. The Baal worshippers are are are repeating themselves over and over again, jumping up and down, cutting themselves, yelling for six hours. Elijah steps up. Two verses of prayer. Two verses, 63 words. That's all. But the Bible says it's the fervent, effective prayer of a righteous man that avails much. A short prayer, a short prayer to the right God is a lot better than a long prayer to a false god. His prayer worked because he's praying to the right source. There's actually God behind his prayer. So he prays and the people say the Lord he is God. The Lord he is God.
Now let me land this plane. When it comes to prosperity, riches, wealth, monetary gain, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with it. Nothing intrinsically wrong. Some of the godliest people, as you know in the scripture, were prosperous. Money is never the issue. It's always what? the love of money that is the issue. That's what Paul said to Timothy. It's the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. Why? Because it's that love or covetousness, that desire for it that that binds us to the temporal while it blinds us to the eternal. It places ourselves above God. The key philosophy of this world is the more you have, the happier you'll be. That's worldly philosophy. The more you have, the happier you'll be. That if you accumulate assets to satisfy your lifestyle, you'll be happy. Most people still believe that to be true, even though it is not true. I want to just read quickly the words of an economist by the name of Richard Easterland. He was a professor of economic theory um and economics. He just recently died at age 98. Uh this is what he said. "Most people believe that if their real income were to be suddenly doubled, they would feel a lot happier. And so they would for the first week or two after that. the happiness would have precipitably diminished and 6 months or a year later they would be only slightly happier than before their financial improvement." End quote. Now the principle he brought forth is called the principle of adaptation. The principle of adaptation says that we always return to a set point of happiness. If you're miserable before you got the cash, you're going to be miserable afterwards. You're going to return to a set point of happiness. The principle of adaptation. This is why Paul said, you know, sometimes I have a lot, sometimes I have a little, but I've learned whatever state I'm in to be content. To be content, that is, I have a contentment totally unrelated to the income that I am receiving. There's two ways you can be rich. more possessions or fewer needs. Happiness does not come from the outside in. It comes from the inside out. Whatever state I'm in to be content. I know that it's flu season and I've been told by my pharmacy that especially people in my age bracket need to get their flu shots because influenza is a huge threat. Might be a huge threat. But can I give you another huge threat? Not influenza. Affluenza. Affluenza. I need more to be content. I worship God, but there's Baal over there, and he promises so much more. Again, this is where we started. One thing's for certain. When it comes my time, I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind.
Thank you, Father, that you satisfy the deepest part of [snorts] us. Because when we are filled with Jesus, we have it all. We have him and he gives so much and touches the very core of our being with joy. Lord, uh I realize that some people really are struggling during this season. They're entering into a season where gifts are expected to be bought and joy is anticipated, but they know that they're struggling and they're wondering how they're going to make ends meet. We do pray, Father, for your provision and that you will give all things richly to be enjoyed. And Father, I pray that we will never place our will, our wants above your will and what you want for us. So that we could say, I've learned in whatever state I'm in to be content. For as our Lord Jesus said, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. We worship you and you [music] alone. Our allegiance is to you and you alone. Thank you for giving us a satisfied mind and heart in Jesus' name.
Thanks for joining us in this message from monsters in our closet as we looked at First Kings 18 and the battle between the God, the God of heaven and this false god but all. And we just hope that this message spoke to you. maybe that it helped you to look at God and the contentment that we can have because of our life and salvation in him. We'd love to hear your story. Email us your story at this email address, my story@calvarynm.urch. And if you'd like to help us get this message to more people, there are two primary ways you can do that. You can hit that share button on YouTube and share it with people. You can subscribe and then of course you can become a financial partner with us as well. Just click give in the top right corner of our website, calvarynm.urch. We'll see you next time for Monsters in Our Closet.