by Darnell Whitfield

Another year has come.

A new day to breathe in the goodness of the Lord, another chance to be something a little better than yesterday.

If you are a Christian, it is another chance to show the world that there is some humanity and bowels of compassion lingering in the world.

The prophet Elijah did great and mighty works for God.

A little background, the prophet Elijah served God between 860 B.C.-852 B.C. and did 16 miracles.

His Hebrew name means: My god is Jehovah.

The prophet Elijah, was known as the prophet of fire, and he called the people to make a decision concerning whether to serve God and challenges the prophets of Baal to a fiery test.

We are challenged everyday whether to serve God or to serve Satan.

Every moment of our life is filled with the decision to do what is right according to good morals and Holy Scripture, or to do what is wrong.

Let’s look at this scenario, you are strolling through a department store and the urge to take something comes over you, so you have a decision to make.

1. Take the item and just walk out of the store.
2. Take the item go to the counter and pay for it.
3. Just leave the store, so that you are no longer faced with the temptation.

Three possibilities with two outcomes. The decision is yours.

Baal issues a challenge in 1 Kings 18: 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.”

We are faced with the challenge of being who God says we are, His children, therefore we cannot be the same evil person that we were in our sinful years before we became Saints.

The 450 followers of the false prophet tried to get Baal to answer their prayer to no avail.

That is the problem with those who try to serve God other than what the Holy Bible teaches.

Jesus stated in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.”

To take this a step further, a Christian cannot serve whoredom, witchcraft, using perverse language, doing what the world does and then act like you are a child of God.

Fully love God or love the world, but you can’t have it both ways.

Today’s Christian is overly concerned about personal gain, which ultimately drive men and women to become overly concerned about having the larger home, the more expensive car, and the list goes on and on, while their love for God and what He wants out of us will wane into obscurity.

Money is not evil, in and of itself, however the love of money (read 1 Timothy 6:10.)

Elijah’s love and trust in God was so great that he knew he would win over the prophets of Baal. The 450 prophets could not prevail with very dry wood, no fire came down to consume the wood. Elijah did what very few Christian leaders will do today: 1. Call out sin, and 2. Expose false prophets.

We are to expose leaders in the body of Christ that are taking the people of God further and further away from the truth into the danger zone of ignorance, evil and a life that is cursed.

SPOILER ALERT: God did not call us to be satisfied with the status quo, but to go outside of the box of mediocrity and show people where they are spiritually and guide them to where God wants them to be.

And at a moment in time Elijah ceased to be just a man and had become a true man of God.

To show God’s extraordinary power Elijah drenched the firewood with water (NOTE: water-logged wood will not burn,) yet Elijah calls to God to burn the wood, then lo and behold in 1 Kings 18: 37: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

Elijah’s name meant, ‘My god is Jehovah.’ Those of you who call yourselves Christian, your name means, Christ-Like, or I am like Christ. We don’t intentionally sin against God because we know He forgives. We are Holy, we are joyous, we are faithful, we are at peace, we have compassion, we are not racist, we do not gossip, we are different from those that are in the world.

Another year has come, let’s be Christ-like.

WE ARE CHRISTIANS, so let us behave as CHRISTIANS!

Happy New Year, and may God richly bless you all!

DARNELL WHITFIELD is senior pastor of Diamond Grove Baptist Church in Franklin. Contact him at 742-1343 or revwhitfield@me.com.