Pouring It Our

Pouring it out, 2 Kings 4:1-7

Eric A. Snyder

August 18, 2002

Top 10 signs you’re broke

10. American Express calls and says: "Leave home without it!"

9. You’re formulating a plan to rob the food bank.

8. Long distance companies don’t call you to switch.

7. You rob Peter...and then rob Paul.

6. You finally clean your house, hoping to find change.

5. You think of a lottery ticket as an investment.

4. Your bologna has no first name.

3. Sally Struthers sends you food.

2. McDonalds supplies you with all your kitchen condiments.

1. At communion you go back for seconds

some one recently said

“The only reason a great many American families don’t own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments.”

A man was once boasting to an acquaintance, "We have a whole room full of furniture from France that goes back to Louis the 14th." "That’s nothing," replied the other. "We’ve got a whole house full of furniture from Sears that goes back to Harry on the first."

Personal debt in the U.S. is increasing at the rate of $1000 per second and consumer installment debt has mushroomed to a point where it takes approximately $1 out of every $4 that consumers earn after taxes to keep up the payments--not including the home mortgage. For over 250,000 Americans, the burden of debt is so great that he/she declares bankruptcy. There are even more serious consequences of this financial tension created by debt: 56% of all divorces are a result of financial tension in the home

Young Families in Debt: Spending habits of young married couples with children (both spouses 18 to 25): Average after-tax income, $19,783. Average annual spending, $21,401. (They are spending around 8% more than they make.

Living in debt can be devastating. In fact because of the level of debt that we have incurred over the last 10 years, new agencies have sprung up. You see them all the time, companies that are designed to help you get out of debt.

The temptation to spend on credit is our biggest temptation as a nation. So we end up putting it on the credit card or buying the vehicle we can’t afford. Then we end up living with the anxiety of knowing that we owe someone money. And it just snowballs into effect. We have to work extra hours or pick up a second job to pay our debts. Then before we know it our family is distant or even ripped apart because of our financial situation.

Our story today is about a family that lost it’s major income provider and the man had creditors. The wife was frustrated and didn’t know what to do. So she enlisted the help of a prophet.

I love this story because the prophet offers help but he says “How can we use what you have to fix this problem?”

At the end of the story she went from a woman was able to live on the abundance of God’s blessings.

I don’t know about you but that’s where I want to be.

I want to live on the overflow of God’s blessings.

She went from having creditors to being a credit to the kingdom of God

She went from debt to donations

The message of this text is clear “God provides for those who obey Him”

But for some in this room we are not in financial troubles. Some here today are spiritually bankrupt. Some are emotionally bankrupt and you have been living your lives paying for the sins of your past. Some in this room have experienced the bankruptcy that goes beyond what money can define. Maybe your insides have been eaten out our your family in turmoil because of some kind of debt in your life.

Our text today is from 2 kings and the story is quite clear that the level of debt this family had incurred was about to destroy this family.

2 Kings 4:1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." 2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." 3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." 5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."