Sunday Sermon by pastor Rajesh Mathew, 21 January 2024 

1 Kings 18:42- 42 So, Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

Go to your Carmel. The meaning of the word Carmel means Vineyard. This is a year to climb up the mountain. Climb up into the vineyard that God has kept for you, this is a year to soar and fly high. Climb up to the blessing and the significance that God has kept for you.

• In prayer, in faith, in worship, climb up. Release your faith and God’s grace will work on your behalf. 

This is my year, I will climb up to Carmel, I will climb up into the blessing, giftings, significance, spiritual realms, honour and greatness that God has kept for me. 

• Clap your hands and lift the Name of Jesus. Don’t be sitting idle. Just climb up to Carmel. • While Lot and his family were being brought out of Sodom and Gomorrah by the angels, they were told to climb up the mountain and Lot being lazy said no need of that mountain, why don’t you tell us to go someplace close by? Don’t be like Lot. There is a blessing and spiritual realm that God wants you to enter. Don’t ask God for another place as a replacement. No, get into it in Jesus' Name.

1) THERE IS FIRE AND THERE IS RAIN ON CARMEL 

• There is fire - anointing on Carmel- the move of the Holy Spirit, giftings and revival anointings, experiences of victory, and also there is rain- blessing from the Lord. 
• This week is our Republic Day. Pray for the country in Jesus' Name. May the Lord’s glory be revealed this week In Jesus' Name in our country. May the Lord’s fire descend upon our country. Fire and rain will fall. Anointing and blessing will fall. 

The Lord is a consuming fire, the Holy Spirit is a refining fire. The Prophets of God are fire ministers. May new mantles fall upon His anointed children. The children and prophets ho will walk in the fire. It is your season to come upon the top of Carmel.

• We do not go up to Carmel not to show others who we are, but for the Lord to reveal who the Lord is! You don’t need to show people who you are anymore, the Lord will reveal who He is, the God whom you believe. In your difficulty, the Lord will reveal who He is through you. 
• God is going to prove who God is. He will do so on Mount Carmel. God will reveal who the God of Cornerstone church is. I am going up Carmel! 

2) CARMEL IS A PLACE OF SEPARATION 

1 Kings 18:19-20- 19Now summon all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, as well as the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.” 20So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and had the prophets gather on Mount Carmel. 

• God summoned all His people. God Himself is revealing who He is. The fire doesn't come here to the place where you are sitting, it comes to the place where God wants you to be. It comes at Carmel. Get out of your comfort zone.
• Jesus said, follow me and the people just left everything and followed him. May a generation like that arise, that is willing to leave everything and follow Jesus. And give himself/herself and their lives for God completely. Leave certain things and give yourself fully to God

Leave certain relationships, that are pulling you backwards, certain friendships that are making youturn back, leave them.

• Get up and climb up Carmel, there is fire and rain there. Get out of your sins, only then will your Carmel be revealed. 
• We got so used to coming to church with all our baggage and seeing somebody else on fire that we forget that God has got a fire for us. You need to be seasoned with his fire. • Your Carmel must be revealed and I must climb up and get there myself.

3) IT IS A PLACE OF DECISION 

1 Kings 18:21- And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 

God is too big to ask you to follow HIM. You need to decide for yourself. 

Years ago, God gave me the grace to follow him. I decided that in life and death, I would follow Jesus. Today, you need to decide- not falter between two opinions. Decide for God. 

Indecision is a TRAGEDY. 

Making a decision and not standing by it is SHAMEFUL 

Making a decision and forgetting it is a maha pore

• You made decisions - to pray, to read the Bible, to come to church on time, to give to God, to be a witness of Jesus. If you stand firmly in the decisions you make, your Carmel will stand for you. 

Don’t live with revelation alone, but live with a decision. 

• If the fire hadn’t fallen on Carmel, God’s name would be profaned. But God did not allow that. If the fire had not fallen, Elijah’s era would have ended.
• Make decisions. God will encounter you and show up for you. Make your decision in the presence of God.

There is a saying- nothing is born in comfort. God is looking for a generation of risk-takers. 

I decided at the age of 20 years to follow Jesus, I did not have money, no job, no ministry and no direction for the future. But still make that decision. I made it for Jesus. Not for a ministry. I don’t know if that was irresponsibility or foolishness. I don’t know if you will advise your children that. insecurities came, and some voices told me how I would be married and raise a family. But I decided to follow Jesu and obey what he was telling me. Jesus is not a debtor to any man. 

• If you have forsaken something for God, your blessing and your Carmel will be revealed. God will lift you up. 

4) IT IS A PLACE OF SELECTION 

• God is already selecting the next generation. He is not looking at your beauty or your family name or the size of your offering but He is looking at your heart and your thirst for Jesus. The desire you have to obey Him and preparedness to stand for Him. God is selecting certain youth now. The manifestation of His selection will come later but this is a season where God is separating His people for Himself. 

Prophets, apostles, teachers, pastors and worship leaders will arise. The people who will stand and preach the kingdom in the business world will arise here. God will raise some of you up. You will witness what the Lord has kept for you.

• Certain mantles and Holy Spirit leading is being released by the Holy Spirit upon some of you. • Will God select you? What is the qualification? The Word says that God chose the weak, the foolish and the base. But there was one common trait- they were hungry for him. • Your hunger for the presence of God, your hunger to bring glory to the name of Jesus is the qualification. If so, the Spirit of the living God is going to pick you. God will give you prophetic words, and prophetic songs. You and your family will bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ. 

5) IT IS A PLACE OF DESPERATION 

• Until the Lord touches me, I will not rise. I am desperate for you, Lord! 
• Not attending meetings just as a ritual but because you are desperate. I will do anything to touch the hem of your garment. Even if that means that I will have to go through and press through crowds. 

A desperate generation who are hungry for the presence of God. Desperate to lift the name of Jesusacross the nations.

6) CARMEL IS A PLACE OF ACTION 

1 Kings 18:30-31- 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 had been torn down. 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[a] 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. 

WE SEE THE THREE THINGS HERE

1. ELIJAH BUILT THE ALTAR 
2. HE ARRANGED THE WOOD 
3. HE PLACED THE SACRIFICE 

• Building an altar refers to prayer. Elijah arranged the wood in order. If the fire needs to fall, the third thing is needed- It is the sacrifice. Some of us pray, and we have order but the fire is not falling, which means there is a ‘spelling mistake’. 
• Every day, you need to surrender yourself as a sacrifice on the altar and then you will see the presence of the Holy Spirit upon your life. 
• You may have prayed for hours but if you have not surrendered yourself as a sacrifice before the Lord saying, “Take my life Jesus and I surrender myself to you,”, then you will see God’s fire upon your life.

7) CARMEL IS A PLACE OF REVELATION 

• If you need something to happen, your action must be inspired by revelation. Elijah placed 12 stones representing the 12 tribes on that altar, he had a revelation. You need to have a revelation first. 

What is revelation? It is the Word and the voice of God together 

• Your action must be inspired by revelation. When a family and brothers stand together, there is a blessing. When the twelve tribes stood together, the fire came.

Certain families are going to be built up. The Holy Spirit is opening your spiritual ears. May you hear  the voice of the Holy Spirit when you read the Word.

7) CARMEL IS A PLACE OF MANIFESTATION 

• The things that you have prayed for will manifest in your life. You spoke prosperity, and prosperity manifested. You spoke Healing and deliverance and that will manifest. Whatever the Holy Spirit spoke in your life, will manifest. 

Declare that I am entering into a season of manifestation. The blessing, giftings, power, joy and grace of God will manifest in our lives.

• Earlier we only associated ‘manifestation’ with demons. But this is not just that but the coming out of whatever is inside you. If God glory and faith is in you, it will manifest out.

It is going to be a season that will manifest the result of whatever you did in secret. Did you pray in secret? Did you fast in secret? The blessing will manifest openly. What you gave privately, God will reward you publicly.

• Mathew 6 talks about three things you do in secret. When you pray, when you fast and when you give; It doesn’t use the word “if”. It uses the word ‘when”. Whatever you do in private, God will honour you publicly. That is the meaning of Manifestation. It is the season to pluck your harvest.
• It says there, Elijah repaired the altar. Whatever needs to be repaired in your life, you must repair. Correct your relationship with God and connect with Him. 

Repentance is the reconnection with God. And that causes a party in heaven. There is celebration at every sinner who repents and turns back to God. 

• When you repair your altar, there is celebration in heaven. 
• I will forgive, I will give and I will let go because I want the experience of the Holy Spirit.

The one who has the potential to throw the biggest party in heaven is the worst sinner sitting here. The one who will decide to say, Jesus is enough, I don’t want this sin anymore. Glory to God.

• Blessed be the Name of Jesus. There is a party in heaven when you come back to the relationship with Jesus Christ. Repentance is returning to the Father. Come back to the glory of God. Don’t think you have nothing to repent of. 

You must return and repair the altar. 

• Placing the wood in order refers to a “Lifestyle”. The Holy Spirit told me something- If you correct your prayer life, and you align yourself with God, blessings will become your lifestyle. Your clothes, your car, your walk, your everything will reveal the glory of God. 
• Many people believe that Jesus was poverty stricken. No! Why then did you think the soldiers put lots for his torn clothes. They wanted even his torn clothing so they could sell it. If Jesus was so poor, why would he pay taxes. Does anybody in the Below Poverty Line range pay taxes? Jesus not only paid His taxes, He paid even the disciples’ taxes. May the Holy Spirit shift your levels. In Jesus Name!
• The Lord said bring me a donkey that nobody has sat on. Bring me a car that nobody has driven. No second-hands, only first-hands! God as kept an honour and importance for His people. God will bless you and you will be blessed with first-hand. Supernatural prosperity in Jesus Name. May mindsets that are contrary to God’s Word be broken. He delights in the prosperity of His children! Peter and John said I don’t have gold or silver (which means they carried gold and silver). They should have said, “I don’t have change”. 
• In Acts 28, Paul lived in a rented house in Rome with two hired guards for two years. Rome was the Manhattan of those days.

Christian life is like a buffet. There is rice and curry, friend rice, biriyani, everything. And you can choose what you want to have. 

• God will lead you in good and prosperous paths, if you believe that He will make you soar great heights, He will make you experience His glory, He will do so!! 
• Make a choice! If you choose to stay in debt you stay, but don’t stop someone else from believing the Lord for prosperity. 

In Carmel, you have fire and rain. Repair your altar, place the logs in order and place yourself as a sacrifice, and the fire of God will come upon you. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE FIRE COMES? 

• When the fire comes upon you, your speech will be altered. Elijah’s words changed. You will have fiery speech. On the day of Pentecost, tongues of fire descended upon the People of God. Your words will be visionary. People may even think you are mad.
• In Oral Roberts University entrance has a board outside that reads - MAKE NO SMALL PLANS HERE.

There was person who took a plan for a University construction to Oral Roberts that was budgeted at around 20 million dollars. Oral Roberts tore that plan and said “I don’t need to pray for this. It can be done by anyone”. He went on to say “to do something that brings glory to God, bring me a plan that only God can do and that looks impossible for man”. 

• Abraham had 318 servants. Did they not need at least one room for each? Such was the contingent for Abraham. Let your mindset change this morning. Know the authority of a believer. Elijah had authority. He said bring together all the children of Israel, bring the prophets of Baal and the God who answers by fire is the real God. 

Can you call forth and say, “bring the city, fill the stadium and God will answer by fire”? May that kind of audacity fall upon me, Lord 

8) IT IS A PLACE OF TRUE REVIVAL 

• When Elijah was on Carmel, he was praying and He says to the servant, go again and see and he said that to his servant 7 times.

God is saying it to you- do it again. Go and do it again, walk and do it again. You will see the rain. Carmel has that kind of audacity. 

• Elijah may have meant – “I am sitting on my knees. I am praying. I am birthing something out. I am praying. Something is happening. Go again, your family will be saved. Go see again. • It is time for my Carmel to be revealed! My rain and my fire will be revealed. I will enter into It.