Ridiculous Provision
Elisha, A Tale Of Ridiculous Faith, Week 3
Today, we're in the third week of a message series
we’re calling, Elisha, A Tale of Ridiculous Faith.
by ridiculous we mean,
its so good, so huge, its ridiculous.
The first week, we talked about burning plows,
leaving behind anything
that would keep you from following God completely.
Last week, we talked about digging ditches,
and how we show our faith,
and then God shows his faithfulness.
Today, we're going to talk about filling jars.
I believe this message is going to speak to
those of you who feel overwhelmed this morning.
Some of you feel like
there's just too much going on,
you feel like you're in need right now,
you feel like you don't have enough energy,
you don’t enough time.
Some of you feel like you're really low on faith,
or spiritually at a low point.
If you feel like that today,
like you’re running on empty
in one area of life or another,
then this story is for you,
and I believe God is going to speak to you through it.
2nd Kings, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.
The wife of a man from the company of 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. ' 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 olive oil.'
This is during a time in Israel’s history,
when the king and most of the people
were not following the true God,
they were serving the false god Baal.
And as a result, the prophets of God
were in bad shape,
they had to hide out and lay low,
so its no wonder at all
that this poor widow is in financial need
Now it doesn’t mention her name,
We don't know who she is.
but according to Jewish tradition,
this was the wife of the prophet Obadiah.
And Obadiah was a leader of the prophets,
in fact he was known for protecting and providing
for 50 other prophets.
But now he’s died,
and if indeed this was Obadiah's wife,
then one of the reasons she had so little
is because Obadiah gave so much,
to meet the needs of other prophets.
So if you picture this, we've got a widow,
probably in her early or mid 30's,
she's just lost her husband,
she's got no chance of meaningful employment because
in this culture women didn’t work outside the home,
unless they wanted to take the job
that no woman wants to take.
if you get my drift.
And so she's in a devastating place.
She's lost her husband,
can't pay her bills,
and the creditor is coming after her 2 sons,
because the law back then said
if you can't pay your debts,
they can take your sons as slaves,
and they will be slaves until the debt is paid.
So it doesn't get any worse than this.
Now, some of you are probably thinking,
Yeah, I was devastated yesterday,
because I got a flat tire and it made me late for work,
that just ruined my whole day.
Or, the gps on my iPhone took me to the wrong place again…
And I was at the restaurant and it was horrible,
because they put too much goat cheese on my salad.
"I told you I don't want a lot of goat cheese ...
I am just so frustrated…
Isn’t it amazing how worked up we can get
about things that are really not a big deal.
I only got 7 likes on my facebook post,
my kid got a C on their paper,
and the dog peed on the carpet again,
my whole life is ruined...
Those are not devastating problems,
those are what I’d call entry level problems.
Those are put there by God, for you to learn patience.
And if you’re getting depressed and frustrated by those,
its because you’re a slow learner, okay?
Sorry…
But its not a big deal.
In fact, half of the stress in your life can be eliminated,
if you simply figure out,
what’s really a big deal,
and what’s not a big deal.
One way to figure that out is,
are you going to even remember it
5 or 10 years from now?
If not, its not that big a deal.
Then once you figure out what’s not a big deal,
its really simple,
don’t make a big deal out of what’s not.
At some point in my marriage, I realized that
99% of what Kathy and I fought about was not a big deal.
So we don’t fight very often any more,
and life is better.
Now some of you don't have entry level problems.
You've got some graduate level problems
going on right now,
these are genuine big deal problems.
Your marriage is barely hanging on
and you don't know if you're going to make it.
You've got a child that’s going the wrong way
Some of you are in a bad financial situation
and you don't know how you're going to get out of it,
and its getting worse not better.
Others of you have a health issue.
You went to the doctor or someone you love did,
and it doesn’t look good,
if there's not a miracle,
then you don't know what's going to happen
You've got a graduate level problems,
and you are in significant need today,
You see, God uses both kinds of problems.
He uses entry level problems to build your patience,
he uses graduate level problems to build your faith.
This poor widow in the story
definitely had graduate level problems.
And I want to give to you the key thought for this message
and I believe if you’ll get this
deep down into your spirit
this will definitely build your faith.
Here it is:
When you don't have what you really want,
you’ll discover that, God is what you really need.
In fact,
Think of something right now, that you really want…
but you don’t have.
Listen to me…
That thing is helping you discover
that God is what you really need.
You see we’re absolutely convinced we need the thing,
but what we really need is more of God.
Now lets talk about this story…
This woman has a desperate need,
so she tells it to Elisha,
and what does Elisha do?
Let me first tell you what he doesn't do.
What he doesn't do is say,
"Oh, man, that is a bad problem.
Stinks to be you.”
That is such a shame,
I'll be thinking about you.”
Have you ever had somebody say that,
I'll be thinking about you.”
or maybe send you a card with that on it?
You’re hurting,
and they say, I’m thinking of you.
What good is that gonna do?
Don't tell me you'll be thinking about me.
Pray for me,
do something that matters,
do something that will make a difference.
Don’t just think about me.
Elisha doesn’t just sympathize,
he replied to this poor widow, and said,
"How can I help you?"
5 words that change the world.
You want to make a difference in this world?
You want to be filled with joy?
You start everyday and say,
"God, I am available as your divine representative.
Anytime there is a need,
show me how to help people in your name.
Even if I can't directly meet the need myself,
I want to be a conduit for you God,
to minister to this person.”
So, when someone at the office says,
"I've got a problem"
or "I've got a migraine,"
or "my husband is driving me crazy,"
or "my kid is going off the deep end,"
You are immediately ready to be God’s representative,
you make yourself available,
just like Elisha did, just like Christ did.
You probably can’t solve their problem,
but God can.
And at the very minimum, you can pray for them,
and be a listening ear.
So Elisha asks, how can I help you,
but then he continues with something important…
"Tell me what do you have in your house?"
There’s a principle here?
When God works,
he almost always starts with what you have,
not what you wish you had.
This widow replies,
"Your servant has" [what? ]
nothing there at all.”
Isn't it interesting that
when you're hurting and when you're lacking,
when you’re feeling empty,
all you can see is what you don't have.
When we get down and depressed and discouraged,
we're consumed by what we don't have,
and totally ignore all the blessing we do have.
I don't have enough money, so I can never be happy.”
"I’m not married so I can’t be fulfilled.
I've heard people say,
"My house isn't nice enough so we can't host a small group,"
because everybody knows the Spirit of God can’t move
unless you have granite countertops.
"I don't have what I want,
so my life is miserable.
Some of you women go into your walk in closet
with clothes everywhere.
And what do you do?
You look at them all and then say,
"I have nothing to wear.”
You have enough to clothe an African village
yet you say, "I've got nothing to wear.”
You're focused on what you don't have.
And this is exactly where this poor woman was.
She had lost almost everything,
and all she could see was her lack.
But you know something great?
Those are the people God loves to do miracles with.
The people who are empty,
who have nothing,
who are desperate to be filled with something.
God loves those kind of people.
In fact,
Jesus very first miracle
he took emptiness, and worked a miracle with it.
Maybe you remember the story ----
the wedding of Cana.
The proud parents, and friends
and relatives and neighbors
are all gathered for the wedding feast,
and they’re celebrating,
and enjoying themselves,
when all the sudden
the worst thing happened
that could happen in a wedding feast,
in that day.
They ran out of wine.
Immediately they began to panic,
and they’re embarrassed,
and they’re saying,
what are we going to do?
At first just the few people coordinating the wedding knew,
but then the word began to spread,
and the guests found out, no more wine,
And then even Mary, the mother of Jesus got involved,
and she goes to Jesus and says,
Jesus, what can you do about this?
Now you have to remember that
Jesus had never done a miracle up to that point,
this was his first one.
But somehow Mary knew, even then,
that God loves to do miracles with emptiness
So she told the servants,
do whatever Jesus tells you.
And you know the story,
Jesus tells them to fill 6 empty waterpots with water,
and he turns it to wine.
His very first miracle,
was all about turning emptiness,
into ridiculous provision.
You see, throughout Jesus ministry on earth,
he was always interested
in the emptiness of people.
He was drawn to people who had nothing,
no money,
no hopes.
no reputation,
no respect,
nothing.
Because Jesus knew
that he could fill that emptiness.
Remember the story of the woman at the well.
Jesus gets into a conversation
with this Samaritan woman,
who’s had 5 husbands,
but now isn’t married
and is living with a man.
which in that day would have caused her
to be considered a prostitute.
So she had no husband,
no respect,
and no faith in God.
Nothing.
And then along comes Jesus, and says,
I see your emptiness,
and what you really need,
is not this well water,
let me give you living water.
John 4:13-14
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Jesus says, I can give you living water
so you’ll never be empty again.
And of course she jumped right on that.
Because who wouldn’t want to feel totally fulfilled,
when you’ve been running on empty?
You see,
God specializes at pouring his Holy Spirit
into empty people,
so we have pictures of that all over the bible.
You see,
God is not stressed out when you come to him,
with nothing to offer,
feeling spiritually empty.
He’s got the solution for emptiness.
But what he wants
is for you to realize you’re empty,
so that He can fill you.
That leads to the next spiritual principle
we see in this story.
What do you do
when you’re empty,
when you don't have much?"
Stop waiting for what you want, and start working with what you have.
Stop waiting for what you want, and start working with what you have.
Lets watch a video…
VIDEO: DEIDOX ALYSSA
The most important line in that video, is when she says…
If I wasn’t blind, I wouldn’t have as much faith.
You see,
When you don't have what you really want,
you discover that, God is what you really need.
So you stop waiting for what you want
and you trust God,
and start working with what you have.
That’s what Elisha does,
And that’s what God is saying to some of you this morning…
Verse 2, Elisha says…
"What do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all… except a little olive oil.”
I don't have anything there at all…
Oh yeah, except this one little thing.”
Stop waiting for what you want, and start working with what you have.
You might ask,
"What good is a little olive oil?"
Olive oil was valuable back then,
because it was used for so many things.
It was obviously used in cooking,
it was also used as fuel to burn in lamps,
it was used as moisturizer
because you couldn't go to Bath and Body Works
and get some stuff to squirt on your face.
It was used to help keep leather pliable,
it was used to keep iron from rusting,
it was used to anoint people in religious services.
Oil was valuable
but she didn't have much,
she only had a little.
Fortunately we serve a God
who specializes in doing a lot with a little.
Some of you need to know that this morning,
We serve a God who specializes in doing a lot with a little.
All through scripture, you'll see this again and again.
Jesus was teaching thousands of people,
and afterward everybody's hungry,
so the disciples say,
How are we gonna feed all these people?
We don't have any food.
And a little boy came up and said,
"I don't have a lot, but do I have a little.”
5 loaves and 2 fishes.”
And in the hands of the Son of God, a little became a lot.
They fed the thousands with 12 basketfuls left over
because we serve a God who can do a lot with a little.
Jesus said you don’t need a lot of faith,
if you just have a little faith, not a lot,
you can do incredible things.
If you just have the faith of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Be removed and cast into the sea, and you will have what you ask for.
Some of you would say this morning,
"I'm low on faith
all I have is a little.”
Jesus says, that’s okay.
If you just have a little bit of faith,
We serve a God who can do a lot with a little.
So Elisha says,
"What do you have in your house?"
and God did a miracle.
God asked Moses one time,
"what do you have in your hand?"
and he did a miracle.
What's in your house?
What's in your hand.
Notice God didn’t say,
"What do you want,"
or "what do you need,"
but "what do you have.”
So let's stop waiting for what we want
and start working with what we have
because God has given you everything you need
to do everything he wants you to do.
Some of you look at what you have
and you say,
"I wish I had something else
so I could do something more significant.”
And God's going to say, "no, no, no.
I’ve given you everything you need
to do everything I wants you to do.
Stop waiting for what you want
and start working with what you have.
"But I've never done that before.
I don’t know how.
I’m not capable,
I don’t have time,
I need this or that first.
God says,
I’ve given you everything you need
to do everything I want you to do.
The second thought that we learn from this story
is a follow-on from the first…
We offer God what we have
and trust him to give us what we need.
Offer God what you have and trust him to give you what you need.
2nd Kings 4:3-7
Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons,
Now this is a strange story.
Its like the prophet was saying,
I know you have almost nothing,
I know that your life seems completely empty,
but you don’t have enough of emptiness.
I want you to get, really really empty.
So he said,
I want you to gather up all the nothing you have,
all the emptiness you have,
and then I want you to go to all your neighbors,
and borrow all their emptiness too,
then go back to your house,
close the doors
with the 2 boys that are about to be taken from you,
so they’ll be emptiness too.
And after you’ve done that,
then lets see what God will do in your life.
This morning, if you’d look at yourself,
and look at your life,
and if you’d say,
you know Ken, I feel spiritually empty.
I don’t feel like I’m experiencing
God’s presence
and God’s provision in my life,
I’m feeling spiritually empty,
maybe the reason could be that
you’re not empty enough.
Have you noticed that, many times
we won't look to God for help,
and look to him for strength,
until we have no other option,
until we realize our emptiness.
Sometimes we’re trying to meet our spiritual needs
in all kinds of other ways,
and those other ways aren’t working,
so we feel empty,
but we haven’t started looking to God alone,
to meet those needs.
Did you know that he can’t fill your jar,
if its already full?
God can’t fill your jar,
if you’re trying to cram all kinds of other things
into your jar.
Hey God, fill my jar with oil!
He looks and say,
How am I gonna do that?
You’re jar is still full of yourself!
The woman followed Elisha’s instructions,
she got a bunch of empty jars,
And Elisha told her…
pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
"She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, then they brought the jars to her," and as they kept bringing on jars,
she kept pouring.
"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.
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’s left.”
When she offered God what little she had,
God gave her everything she needed.
If you were here last week, you know this…
When we show God our faith,
then he shows us his [what?] faithfulness.
When you stop wishing for what you want,
but you offer God what you have,
then God can show you his faithfulness.
Notice, Elisha said,
Go get a bunch of jars.”
And notice he didn't say what color,
he didn't say what size,
he didn't say what shape.
The only requirement is that the jars had to be what?
Empty.
It could have been any kind of jar.
It could have been a milk jug,
could have been a 2 liter bottle.
It could have been a pickle jar
because God can use any shape, size or color.
He just needs it to be empty.
How does this apply to you?
2nd Corinthians 4:7 says this:
"But we have this treasure [which is Christ]
"In" what?
in jars of clay.”
The jars of clay here is talking about our bodies;
Paul says you and I are like clay pots,
that are filled with the Holy Spirit.
"We have this treasure in jars of clay.”
You and I are jars of clay,
and what is God looking for?
God is looking for a empty jars, that he can fill.
When we empty ourselves of self,
when we empty ourselves of pride,
when we empty ourselves of greed,
when we empty ourselves of our own agendas,
and come to God totally empty,
then he fills us with oil
which has always been a symbol of
the Holy Spirit.
And suddenly you realize that,
when you don't have what you wanted,
it is God that you truly needed.
And suddenly he is enough;
he is sufficient in every single way.
You see when you are weak, he is your strength.
When you're hurting, he is your comforter.
When you're lost, he is your guide,
when you're hungry, he is the bread of life.
When you are thirsty, he is living water.
When your life is unstable, he is the rock that does not move.
When you realize,
I don’t have what I wanted,
then suddenly you discover
he is exactly what you needed.
Some of you came here today
feeling empty or lacking or in need,
but there’s good news…
you're going to look to Jesus Christ,
and he is going to become everything that you need.
So I encourage you,
if you’re in need today,
Offer God what you have
and trust him to give you what you need.
Because when you don't have what you really want,
you’ll discover that God is what you really needed, all along.
STAND FOR PRAYER
Father, we ask you to speak to us today. Pour out your Spirit into our lives, build our faith. God, we thank you that you are so good to us, and though you may not give us what we want, you always provide what we need.
We pray especially for those who feel empty this morning, God that your Holy Spirit would fill empty jars of clay all over this room, and that your presence in us would be exactly what we need, that you would give us your supernatural peace, that you’d be our divine comforter, that you would be our strength, and that you’d be our provider. And God, build our faith, so we can offer you what we have, and trust you to give us what we need. As we show you our faith, God, show us your faithfulness.
As we continue to bow in prayer, let me talk for a second to some of you who are not sure of your relationship with God.
The widow in this story had something in common with all of us. She had a debt that was impossible for her to repay. And all of us have a debt that we could never repay, it's called a sin debt.
All of us, we've sinned against a Holy God and we don’t have the ability to make it right, but God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to take all our sins on himself, then die on the cross to pay for them, and then he rose again to new life so that anyone who makes him Lord can have new life.
It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, how bad you've been, Jesus has bought you a new life, if you make him your Lord.
Where do you start?
You consciously choose to give your life to him.
You say, God, I give you everything, the good and the bad, my strengths and weaknesses, I empty myself of me, I want to be filled by you. You can do that right now…
Pray, "Heavenly Father, I admit I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. Jesus, forgive me. Change me. Make me new. I believe you died for me and you rose again so I could live for you.
Fill me with your Spirit so I can follow you for the rest of my life. Thank you for new life. My life is not my own. I give it to you. In Jesus' name, I pray.
