When The Alpha Shows Up
Rev. Jonathan Morales Preached on 3/11/2025
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27:00
Summary
Rev. Jonathan Morales explores the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal alongside modern-day miracles to demonstrate that when Jesus, the true Alpha, shows up, every storm, sickness, and struggle must bow.
Key points
- •Noise and volume do not equate to authority or strength; the prophets of Baal were loud but powerless while Elijah was quiet and confident.
- •The 'Alpha' (Jesus Christ) possesses irrefutable power that forces every situation, sickness, and doubt to bow.
- •Focusing on negative reports or 'Dr. Google' creates a cloud of fear that only the presence of God can dispel.
- •God often uses the simple, sincere prayers of children to demonstrate His healing power and faith.
- •One encounter with the true Alpha can retroactively change the narrative of your trial into a story of triumph.
Scripture
Healing
Faith
Authority of God
Prayer
Life application
Identify one 'loud' problem or negative report you are currently facing and intentionally stop 'shouting' back at it. Instead, like Elijah, prepare your heart in quiet confidence and invite the Lord to show up as the Alpha in that specific situation this week.
Reflection questions
- In what areas of your life have you been mistakeing 'volume' (chaos, noise, busyness) for actual strength or progress?
- How do you typically react when a 'doctor's report' or a negative situation creates silence and fear in your life?
- Elijah soaked his sacrifice in water, making the miracle 'impossible' from a human perspective. What 'water' is soaking your situation right now, and how can that actually highlight God's power?
- Is there a testimony of God 'showing up' in your past that you need to cling to while waiting for your current prayer to be answered?
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Full transcript
0:00one of those likeo Hallelujah
0:00amen well tonight I know I know we're
0:02typically used to getting started um by
0:04reading a passage of scripture I told
0:05Brother Isaac tonight good luck just
0:07following me because I'm going to be
0:09mentioning different parts about the
0:11scripture I'm not going to be
0:12necessarily reading the scripture in
0:14itself but we're talking a little bit
0:16about Elijah and the prophets of Baal if
0:18that's okay however um I do also have a
0:21little bit of a story to tell you about
0:23some dragons you guys like
0:26dragons my kids have been thrilled
0:29and loving How to Train Your
0:32Dragon one of the best franchises out
0:34there right now I'm sorry it just is if
0:37you haven't seen one two or three or the
0:40remake of one that's coming out soon I
0:43implore
0:44you just go ahead and leave now and just
0:47watch How to Train Your Dragon it's
0:49fantastic you'll probably get some of
0:50the same stuff that I'm about to give
0:51you tonight from that movie but how to
0:54train your dragon is such a fantastic
0:57story and we have just been been delving
0:59deep in fact my uh my stepdad you all
1:04know here is Kirk um he is Peepaw to my
1:07kids and when my son Cohen found out
1:10that there was a howder trainer Dragon 3
1:13we had not seen yet he called his
1:16peaw and he didn't answer because he was
1:18working and he was very disappointed so
1:20he called his
1:21Mina and she didn't answer because she
1:24was she was working as well he was very
1:26angry so he texted them both now Cohen
1:29has a phone because he needs it because
1:31it reads his Dexcom it tells us his
1:33sugar real time we got to monitor it so
1:35whatever it's all locked down come and
1:36check it out I promise you won't even be
1:38able to get to the internet from it so
1:39there you go take it as it is so he
1:42texts only the contacts that I put in
1:44his phone by the way anyway his Mina and
1:47his peaw and he says Mina
1:49peaw there's a new how to train your
1:51dragon three out
1:53there I need you to download it so I can
1:56watch it thanks
2:00they responded of course immediately
2:03immediately my mom no problem baby PE
2:05Paw's on it he'll take care of it right
2:07away and I can already see it she's
2:09walking over in her in her robe and
2:10she's walking over to peaw she's like
2:13Peepaw you got to check your phone right
2:15now go and text you and I've never seen
2:19these people respond as quickly as they
2:21did in these moments because immediately
2:23I get a text back I don't see it the
2:25movie's not there what's the movie
2:27called send me a screenshot and all of a
2:29sudden my phone is blowing up about a
2:31movie that I didn't even
2:33request and there's texts going back and
2:35forth and back and forth and finally I
2:37say listen the movie is out you're
2:40searching for the new one that's not
2:41correct the new new one is a remake of
2:43the first one it's a shot for shot
2:45remake but it's live action with CGI
2:48it's going to be fantastic coming to a
2:49theater near
2:51you but this movie was released in 2019
2:54it's called How to Train Your Dragon 3
2:56colon the Hidden World
3:00and P responded immediately I got it
3:03tell conen it's downloading I'll get it
3:05to him immediately because we got this
3:07server peot downloads movies and all of
3:09a sudden poof we got new movies at our
3:11house
3:12so I don't know if it's legal or not but
3:14it
3:17happens listen don't come for
3:20me I just got a log in I don't do
3:23anything I just click the button in the
3:25movie plays I mean don't don't come from
3:27me
3:29is it still live
3:32streamed it
3:35is and so the movie downloaded and we
3:38got to watching it and we we watched all
3:40the movies by the way so in particular I
3:43think Cohen's favorite so far you
3:45correct me if I'm wrong is How to Train
3:46Your Dragon to we watch that one all the
3:49time all the time all the time in fact I
3:53think I've probably watched it about and
3:56I'm talking start to finish 20 to 30
3:58times at this point it's unbelievable
4:02but every time I watch it I find myself
4:04getting zoned in and locked in on this
4:08kids movie No Such Thing by the way when
4:11my wife and I were married but a few
4:13months I believe it was we went and saw
4:15Frozen in the movie theaters with
4:17another couple in this um uh in this uh
4:20congregation tonight who shall remain
4:25nameless and we walked out of the
4:27theater singing all of the songs because
4:29that is what we did we went to IMAX it
4:31was fantastic it was ginam asaurus the
4:34screen was huge in front of you
4:38however we started watching How to Train
4:40Your Dragon 2o over and over and over
4:43and in this movie if you haven't seen it
4:45keep up with me cameras because I'm
4:47going to be moving
4:50around look they're
4:52responding in the movie How to Train
4:54Your Dragon too there's this they're
4:57following the story of Hiccup who was
5:00the dragon trainer toothless who seems
5:03like a you know just harmless Dragon but
5:05he's a Night Fury okay and if you know
5:08you know that means something in the
5:10dragon Community he's a Night Fury he's
5:12he's powerful he's elusive he's fast
5:16he's strong no one really knows how
5:18powerful they are so they're following
5:21uh Hiccup Toothless and there's a bad
5:24guy his name is Drago everyone say Drago
5:27dro Drago's goal in the entire movie is
5:30to gain control of all of the dragons he
5:34wants to rule all the dragons but the
5:37way that he rules all the dragons is
5:39through fear and through uh uh Force
5:43that's how he's going to rule all the
5:44dragons and so his deal was he went and
5:47he found a a they call it an alpha
5:50Dragon it's just just gigantic Dragon
5:53he's got huge horns he's ancient he's
5:55been around for a long time and he got
5:57control over for this one main Alpha
6:00dragon and his goal was all right if I
6:02got this superp powerful Dragon all the
6:04other dragons are going to follow me
6:07that's what they're going to do and it
6:08worked for a bit it truly did Drago
6:12ended up finding the the village where
6:14all the dragons were were living
6:16everything was peaceful it was
6:17harmonious until Drago shows up Drago
6:20shows up and he's loud and he's
6:23boisterous and he's angry and he gets in
6:26front of all of the people and I'm going
6:28to sh outout so get
6:29ready I'm warning you I don't warn the
6:32Sunday school kids I just shout and then
6:34all of a sudden they're paying attention
6:36again so Drago he gets in front of all
6:39of the all of the people
6:44and yeah I did
6:47that and he's beating his chest and he's
6:50shouting and he's getting all of the
6:52dragons attention and all of a sudden
6:54because of the alpha behind him they all
6:56bow all the dragons submit
6:59to Drago and to the Alpha dragon and
7:01they switch sides now they're all bad
7:03guys as Cohen would say they're all bad
7:04guys so good guys bad guys nothing in
7:07between just good guys bad guys period
7:08they're all bad guys so all the dragons
7:11go they're all bad guys and now all of a
7:13sudden this there's chaos because all
7:15the good guys are on one end and they
7:18can't really protect themselves because
7:19all their dragons that they trained and
7:21that they loved and that they cherished
7:23cherished are all bad guys now
7:26so super long story story is short I
7:28believe it's an hour and 38
7:31minutes I mean listen this is what it I
7:34mean look it up it's something like that
7:36so all of a sudden hiccup through his
7:40love and his connection you don't need
7:41to do that to me
7:43that through his love and his connection
7:46with toothless his Dragon he's able to
7:49snap hiccup out of or snap toothless out
7:52of this this days that he's in he's he's
7:55under control by this other Dragon he
7:57snaps him out of it and he gets control
7:59of Toothless his Dragon p and everyone's
8:01like whoa how do you do that at least I
8:04was and so he gains control back of of
8:07Toothless and Toothless trusts him and
8:10he allows him to fly blind I mean you
8:12got to watch the whole movie he flies
8:14blind to to cover his eyes so he's not
8:16taken control again by the Alpha dragon
8:19and all of a sudden toothless lands in
8:22front of the other Alpha dragon and all
8:24the other dragons are on the bad guy
8:26side and they're all kind of lined up
8:27and
8:28toothless he's not the biggest guy in
8:31fact he's one of the smaller dragons but
8:34what he does is he he bows up and he
8:36shoots one shot and he just stares at
8:38the dragon like just stares at him it's
8:40super intense my heart's
8:42going as if I'm there because I was I
8:46felt like and so he shoots this blast
8:49and all of a sudden all the other
8:50dragons are like
8:52whoa this guy's in charge this is the
8:55real Alpha this guy is the true Alpha
8:59you know how I'm doing good because
9:01river is locked eyes with me right
9:04now
9:07right and so he gains control now all of
9:10the dragons are like whoa that dude's in
9:12charge they bow down to toothless they
9:14all switch sides and we got all the
9:15dragons back on the good guy side and
9:18then the other Alpha is like whoa dude
9:19I'm out of here and he leaves and now
9:22it's just Drago against all the dragons
9:24and of course the good guys live uh win
9:29because when the true Alpha showed up
9:31and showed his power all of the others
9:34had to Bow and submit and follow his
9:39lead so I told you we were talking a
9:41little bit about the prophets of baale
9:43right I'm going to make a stretch and
9:45try to connect these
9:47two so the prophets of Baal there's a
9:51whole bunch of them and they're all
9:52dancing around their sacrifice and their
9:55their the whole plan was we're going to
9:57get bail to respond and and if baale
10:00responds then everyone has to serve
10:02baale and bow down to Baal and and the
10:04god of the Israelites is is gone and
10:07forgotten and and does not exist and is
10:09powerless and so we're going to just
10:11we're going to show you that bail is God
10:13and bail is powerful and Elijah's like
10:16all right cool man do your thing and so
10:18he's standing back and then we have all
10:20of the prophets of Baal there's like 400
10:22and something it was it was insane and
10:25so they're all dancing around their
10:27sacrifice and their they're shouting and
10:29they're they're offering tons of
10:31sacrifices before them they're cutting
10:33themselves they're they're just loud
10:35they're aggressive they're probably
10:37going I don't know what they were doing
10:39but it was something like that I'm
10:41sure but the sky was silent that
10:45day it was silent so what does Elijah do
10:48when all of all of their their their
10:51efforts were
10:52over Elijah soaks his
10:56sacrifice several times
10:59he digs a trench around it they fill the
11:01trenches with
11:02water and he doesn't
11:05shout he doesn't make a big
11:07fuss because he knows he knows who has
11:11the
11:12power there was no doubt in his mind now
11:15when he prayed the prayer he was about
11:17to pray that God was going to
11:20respond not a doubt not a single
11:23doubt and so what he did was he prayed
11:28simple yet powerful
11:31prayer that
11:33day and what did the Lord do he sent
11:37down fire and consumed the sacrifice and
11:41he licked up all of the water that was
11:43around it there was the sacrifice was
11:45drenched there's no way that a fire
11:48could have started
11:50there in fact when fire is coming what
11:52do we do we wet everything to stop it
11:55from
11:56burning all of the fires that were
11:58happening Nationwide people are out
12:00there in their front yards spraying the
12:02water hoses hoping that the fire doesn't
12:04reach their home and that this water
12:06would stop it from reaching their home
12:08or their or their
12:09possessions Elijah said none of that I'm
12:12going to soak my sacrifice just so that
12:14you can
12:15see we're going to see who's God today
12:18and the Lord
12:20responded quickly he didn't have to do
12:22it three four five times no immediately
12:25he responded with fire took up the
12:28sacrifice licked up all the water and
12:30everything was
12:33gone everyone that day bowed and said
12:37the Lord is
12:41God the Lord he is
12:46God they don't hesitate the Bible
12:49doesn't say that they thought about it
12:51or they talked amongst each other or
12:53that they came to a a decision together
12:56no they they didn't they didn't seek
12:58counsel from one another about what they
13:01just saw you got you guys think that
13:02that was real or what did we just see no
13:05it was an immediate
13:07response they all bowed and they said
13:11the Lord is God the Lord he is
13:15God and they served him because his
13:18deity is
13:21irrefutable because when the alpha shows
13:24up everything changes and everything
13:27happens has to
13:30obey we all have moments like
13:33this when we feel that life is a
13:37constant Roar in our ears maybe we're
13:39hearing that same shout in our ears
13:42every single day problems situations
13:45that may Shake us make us tremble fill
13:48us with fear even we all have these
13:52moments these things can come at us and
13:55they'll be loud and they'll be
13:56aggressive and
13:58it'll be it'll be scary at times
14:00wouldn't it isn't
14:03it and it's so easy for us to lock our
14:05eyes on the negative
14:08things lock our eyes on the Storm the
14:10chaos the what
14:13ifs why is
14:16that why is it second nature to focus on
14:19the
14:21things to go that that could go right
14:23it's second age we're not we're not
14:25interested in in it's our our first
14:27instinct is is to focus on the
14:29bad it takes so much
14:32effort sometimes it takes everything
14:34we've
14:36got to lift our Gaze on what is
14:40good on what is
14:42true on what is
14:44eternal on what will
14:48remain here's the thing don't mistake
14:53volume for
14:56strength the Propet of baale they
14:58shouted and they their throats likely
15:01gave out at times but noise doesn't
15:03equal
15:05power don't mistake numbers for
15:08Authority hundreds of them danced around
15:11and and acted a fool before Baal and in
15:13the in the presence of all of the others
15:16that were there that day but a crowd
15:18doesn't make you
15:21right don't mistake frantic action for
15:26dominance cutting and leaping didn't
15:29bring their God
15:31running Elijah didn't need to scream
15:34that day he didn't need a
15:37mob he didn't need a
15:40performance he had the alpha the one
15:44true God and that was all he
15:48needed that was all he needed that day
15:52he didn't have to rely on something else
15:54because he knew it for himself he didn't
15:57have to to rely on somebody else's story
15:59because he knew it for himself he didn't
16:02have to rely on what he thought he might
16:04have heard about one day because he knew
16:07it for himself he was
16:09confident that when he did what he was
16:12supposed to do that God would
16:16respond in that day he
16:21did you know a few weeks ago probably a
16:24couple months ago
16:26now my wife wife stepped out but I love
16:30you I'm going to share this anyway it's
16:32not a
16:33secret a few weeks ago we were dealing
16:35with a um a situation that came up in in
16:39my wife and we were extremely concerned
16:42um the doctors saw that there was a
16:44nodule on her thyroid and although it
16:47may be uh somewhat common they were
16:49concerned about the growth and how fast
16:52it was growing and they wanted to take a
16:55deeper look at it in fact they wanted to
16:57take a look at about seven years
16:59ago um or or right around then but she
17:02was pregnant and then you know a lot
17:05happened and then she was pregnant again
17:07and then a lot happened and as you all
17:09know she was pregnant
17:11again and a lot
17:15happened and so finally you know we got
17:18to a point where we knew we had to get
17:20this checked out and so we went to the
17:23doctor and they did an ultrasound and
17:24they you know when the doctor's a little
17:26silent in the room and and it just
17:28brings fear all over
17:31you so fear crept into the room that day
17:35and he said you know I I I just want to
17:38let's just biopsy it let's take a look
17:40at it you know most of the time
17:42everything comes back okay but you know
17:44I just I just want to take a look at
17:45this and you know everything's going to
17:47be fine no matter what but let's just
17:49let's take a look at
17:53it and of course what you start doing is
17:56go to Dr Google
17:58and once you look at Dr Google what Dr
18:01Google has to say it's all
18:05over and so we scheduled the biopsy and
18:09my wife went and she was Brave and they
18:11stuck a needle in her throat she didn't
18:14move I was
18:17shooki that's the King James version in
18:19case you're
18:21wondering and um they like because I saw
18:25them they peeled it was it was like
18:28humongous and they just went right in
18:30she didn't move she didn't budge and
18:31she's came out with a little Band-Aid oh
18:33just bleeding but we'll be okay she's
18:35super strong in those moments and I'm a
18:37baby when it comes to Needles
18:39so so anyway we leave the appointment
18:43and you know of course all of the good
18:46that the doctor had said the few weeks
18:48prior and even at that appointment you
18:50know everything's going to be fine very
18:52worst case scenario you know we just
18:54remove the thyroid and everything's
18:55going to be okay and you're going to be
18:57great those aren't the things that you
18:59focus
19:00on and we focus on the face that they
19:03made when they looked at the ultrasound
19:04and we focus on the other things that
19:07they're that they're doing while they're
19:08in the silence we the silence feels like
19:11it lasts hours and hours and we focus on
19:14the things that we read online and we
19:15focus on the negative stories that we
19:17hear about because nobody wants to post
19:19about the positive stuff if they're
19:22posting about it it's only about the
19:23negative and so it's hard to find the
19:25positive stories out there and I'm doing
19:28my best anding baby everything's going
19:29to be okay and I have no
19:31idea if everything's going to be
19:35okay and so one day we're sitting in our
19:37living room
19:38and you know Nikki finally she says to
19:42us guys I I I'm just really nervous will
19:44you guys pray over me please before this
19:46appointment will you pray over
19:48me and we gathered together and I'm so
19:52grateful for my
19:54boys they are sensitive to the and it's
19:58because of you
19:59all your example in this place and all
20:02of the Sunday School teachers that take
20:03the time to invest in our
20:06kids it's it's it's
20:09purposeful and so in those
20:12moments my in that moment specifically
20:15Cohen was not shy we said we're going to
20:17pray we're going to pray that that God
20:19heals
20:21Mommy and Cohen did not hesitate he said
20:25Jesus can heal you and we started
20:28praying and that we're all sitting there
20:30in my living room and we're praying and
20:31we're pleading the blood of Jesus and
20:34Cohen did what he saw many of you do
20:36here on a Sunday morning he laid his
20:39hand right here on her
20:42neck and he was
20:44praying that boy was praying everything
20:47he
20:50had you know they say that fire brings
20:53purification and
20:56healing and my wife in that moment
20:58freaked out when Cohen laid her hand on
21:00it because the fire she felt into her
21:04body in that moment was
21:10undeniable and you can call it what you
21:12want to but we call it what it is and
21:14that's a healing from the most high
21:23God and so we clinged to that
21:28we we for the next few weeks until the
21:30appointment came we held on to that
21:33moment baby Jesus touched you we felt it
21:36in our living room don't you ever forget
21:37it don't you minimize what God did he
21:39touched you in in our living room our
21:42baby boy prayed over you and he touched
21:45you and so we walk into that appointment
21:48where we've been waiting on the
21:50news and the doctor walks
21:54in and he says you know
21:59everything looks good everything's fine
22:01everything's fine he's said I was
22:05concerned I was truly concerned because
22:07you know the size of it and it just you
22:09know sometimes you could look at them
22:11and everything you know looks fine but I
22:13was a little concerned Why why did I
22:14even bring you in here and he pulls up
22:17the ultrasound image again he goes
22:18That's why because I was concerned at
22:20the way that that
22:22looked but he said everything's
22:24fine everything's fine now we just man
22:27it no need to remove it no need to do
22:29surgery we just manage it from
22:34here because when the alpha shows
22:38[Applause]
22:41up everything has to
22:43[Applause]
22:53change so I'm going to start coming to a
22:55close here
22:59I don't know what you walked in here
23:00dealing with
23:02tonight I don't know what you're
23:04facing I don't know what you're going
23:07home
23:08to I don't know what you're struggling
23:11with I don't know what you're dealing
23:14with maybe you're staring down at
23:17doctor's
23:18visit with your heart
23:21pounding maybe you're walking beside a
23:24loved one through a valley and you just
23:26can't see the the end of
23:29it maybe work is a battlefield right
23:34now and you're fighting through every
23:36single
23:40day whatever it is hear me
23:44tonight don't stop praying for the alpha
23:48to show up in your
23:51life because when he does and when and I
23:55know that he will you will know it there
23:59will be signs it will be evident you
24:01will feel it in your body you will know
24:04that the alpha showed up and touched
24:06that situation there will be no denying
24:13it trials that loomed like mountains
24:17turn into triumphs that you'll sing
24:19about one
24:21day disappointments that weighed you
24:24down become Delights that lift you your
24:28soul sadness that drowned
24:32you gives way to a Serenity that you
24:35cannot
24:37explain and doubt
24:39crumbles into deci decisive
24:43Victory because the Alpha's power is
24:53irrefutable so as this 31 yearold kid
24:58tried to connect the dots from How to
25:00Train Your
25:01Dragon to the
25:05Bible closes out this service
25:08tonight whatever you're
25:11facing I Proclaim keep calling on
25:15him don't let the noise of this world
25:19drown out the truth the prophets of Baal
25:23yelled and got nothing Elijah prayed and
25:27and fire fell and our God does not need
25:30to shout to prove he is the alpha he
25:35just shows
25:36up and the whole world
25:39bows he just shows up and your enemies
25:43bow he just shows up and sickness bows
25:49he just shows up and darkness bows he
25:53just shows up and anxiety bows would you
25:57stand with me when the alpha shows up
26:00everything changes so keep on praying
26:04keep on trusting keep on watching
26:07because he's coming and when he does
26:10your story I pray will never be the same
26:15would you pray with me tonight as we
26:17make our way around this Altar and
26:19praise the Lord for all that he's done
26:22Jesus thank you God for showing
26:25up thank you God because you keep
26:28showing up oh Lord God you shown up oh
26:32Jesus for someone like me you shown up
26:35oh Lord God for a sinner like me God you
26:39keep showing up oh Lord Jesus for
26:42somebody like me because that is who you
26:45are you are faithful that is who you are
26:49you are worthy that is who you are you
26:52are righteous that is who you are
26:55Hallelujah Jesus Hallelujah
26:57[Music]
26:58when I go through the rivers I will not