WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING, GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. The Pastor's wife walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter. "What are you doing?" She asked. "Hunting flies" He responded. "Oh. Killing any?" She asked.
2. "Yep, 3 males, 2 females," he replied. Intrigued, she asked. "How can you tell them apart?" He responded, "3 were on a Monster drink cans, and 2 were on the phone."
B. GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS
1. On Sept. 25, 1999, 47-year old Joan Murray went on a skydiving trip. She had done this 30 times before. She jumped from 14,500 feet, hurtling down at 80 miles per hour.
2. When she found that her main parachute would not open, she was able to open her reserve chute at about 700 feet above the ground. However, in her panic she spun out of control, causing her second chute to deflate and she began falling again.
3. When she hit the ground it broke a number of bones in her right side, including her right hip. To make matters worse, she landed on a large fire ant mound, where, unable to move, she was stung by over 200 fire ants.
4. Paramedics quickly transported her to a hospital. For 2 weeks she stayed in a coma. As the doctors monitored her condition they found that the fire ants probably saved her life. Their poison actually acted as a shock to kept her heart beating, and stimulated her nerves so her organs wouldn’t shut down.
5. Joan Murray’s story is proof that things really do happen for a reason, no matter how painful or devastating the experience might be. 2 years after her full recover, she was back skydiving again & landed safely, feet first, and with no sign of fire ant mounds around! [Source: People.com]
C. THESIS
1. How horrible to be helpless and fire ants covering your body! Now we can’t blame God; it was this lady’s own fault for jumping out of a perfectly good plane.
2. But even in the middle of our troubles, when it looks like God is nowhere around – God is at work. His hand will soon materialize. Have faith in God!
3. My subject this morning is about God’s Care for you, and the title is, “When You’re Down to Nothing, God is Up to Something!”
I. WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING
A. YOUR SITUATION
1. You may be down to nothing – no options, no finances, no help, no medicine. But how many times were people in the Bible down to nothing, but God still worked it out.
2. You see – it’s never really been about you, what you do and what you have. God’s always been the One in charge of your life, the One who worked everything out for you. We give ourselves too much credit.
B. WHO’S MADE ALL THE BIG DECISIONS?
1. You didn’t decide where you’d be born or in what century you’d be born in – God did that! You didn’t decide who your parents would be or what level of intelligence you’d have – GOD did that! You didn’t decide whether you’d be a boy or a girl, or what color your eyes were going to be – GOD did that!
2. Since you’re NOT responsible for all the other big things that happened in your life, what makes you think you’re so all-fired important to run everything else? It’s GOD who’s in charge of your life.
3. It’s He who makes the Sun to shine and the wind to blow. It’s He who makes the flowers open and the stars to twinkle at night. So when you’re down to nothing – don’t despair – God doesn’t need anything you’ve got, to work His will.
4. God needs no flour to make bread. He needs no nets to catch fish. He needs no spark or fuel to start a fire. He needs no surgical suite to fix a broken body. God is Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider. So when you’re down to nothing – start to rejoice! Because it’s time for God to work a miracle.
II. EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO GOT DOWN TO NOTHING
A. JOSEPH
1. JOSEPH was down to nothing - He was sold into slavery - wrongfully accused of rape and thrown into jail. Those he helped forgot him. He was at the bottom of the barrel - innocent, yet jailed in a foreign country. If that had happened to us, we would be so mad that we would bubble up like a bad paint job.
2. But God was up to something in Joseph’s life. In a short time Joseph was Prime Minister of Egypt!
B. GIDEON
1. GIDEON was down to nothing. The Midianite horde had ravished the land like locusts. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress - hiding from the Midianites. He had reached the bottom of the barrel - he was down to nothing.
2. But God met him and directed him to deliver Israel. With only 300 men he defeated the Midianite horde and freed the land of the invaders. WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING, GOD’S UP TO SOMETHING.
C. DAVID
1. DAVID was down to nothing - He was a fugitive from King Saul & running for his life; his wife was taken from him, he had to flee the country and live among the Philistines. His city Ziklag was burned and his own men talked of killing him. HE WAS DOWN TO NOTHING, BUT GOD WAS UP TO SOMETHING!
2. King Saul died in a battle and David was made king of Israel. WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING, STAND & WATCH – GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING!
D. HEZEKIAH
1. HEZEKIAH King of Judah was down to nothing. He was surrounded by the army of Sennacherib, King of Assyria. All the cities of Judah except Jerusalem (2 Kg. 18:13) had been taken. Sennacherib told King Hezekiah that no God could save him. Hezekiah tore his clothes and put on sackcloth.
2. He was at the bottom, but God was up to something. The prophet Isaiah sent word that God had had enough. The angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 of Sennacherib’s troops. So Sennacherib broke camp and hightailed it back to Assyria and was assassinated by his own sons. WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING, GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING!
E. THE PROPHET’S WIDOW
1. In 2 Kings 4 a PROPHET’S WIDOW was down to nothing. Her husband had died and her two boys were going to be enslaved for her husband’s debts. She had no money and no assets – except a cup of oil in a jar.
2. She was down to nothing, but God was up to something! God multiplied her oil into hundreds of gallons – enough to pay her debts and give her extra money to live on!
F. PAUL & SILAS
1. PAUL and SILAS were badly beaten in public, thrown into a prison, and chained in the lowest black dungeon. They were down to nothing.
2. At midnight they began singing hymns to God. Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake. The prison doors flew open and the chains fell off.
3. As a result, the jailer and his household became believers and were baptized. WHEN YOU’RE DOWN TO NOTHING, GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING.
III. WHEN GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING
The second thing I want you to see is that – “When you’re down to nothing, GOD is up to something.”
A. GOD’S UNSEEN HAND
1. Have you ever had an unexplained blessing that came to you right when you needed it, and all you could say was, “Thank You Jesus?”
a. Many of you have had reversals of medical conditions. The doctors said one thing, but later the condition was reversed, leaving doctors scratching their heads.
b. Some of you have had situations that were impossible – there was no way out, no solution in sight, and no earthly hope of meeting the need. But when you prayed, the answers flowed from God!
2. You’ve met the GOD OF THE TURNAROUND! The conduit of possibilities opened; your predicament changed; and suddenly, the fingerprints of God became visible, AND GOD STEPPED BETWEEN YOU AND THE SITUATION!
B. WE SERVE THE GOD OF BATTLES! Not Alone!
1. "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn,” Isa. 54:17.
2. “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand,” Eph. 6:11.
3. “Behold, I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall harm you.” Luke 10:19.
4. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4. You’re “more than conquerors through Him who loves you." Rom. 8:37
5. "This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because...the battle is not yours, but God's!" 2 Chron. 20:15
6. Aren’t you glad God fights your battles? I'm here to tell you, this morning, that God’s got your back! He’s between you and your situations.
7. SUDDENLY! Somebody shout “SUDDENLY!” Suddenly it happens. God does it – in a moment – what you could never do for yourself.
8. How many of you have ever almost run out of gas? You prayed to make it to the next gas station! You were out of resources, BUT GOD made the provision at just the right time in just the right way!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Charles Spurgeon, pastor, traveled to Bristol, England to raise money for his orphanage. He preached in the three largest Churches in the city, hoping to collect 300 Pounds (like $10,000). The money was needed immediately for his orphanage. He got the money.
2. After getting into bed at his hotel, Spurgeon heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Give those 300 Pounds to George Muller.” (dir. of another orphanage)
3. "But, Lord,” answered Spurgeon, “I need it for MY orphans in London.” Again God said, “Give those 300 Pounds to George Muller.” It was only when he said, “Yes, Lord, I will,” that sleep came to him.
4. The following morning he made his way to Muller's Orphanage, and found Muller on his knees before an open Bible, praying. Spurgeon said, “George, God told me to give you these 300 Pounds.” “Oh!” said Muller, “My dear Spurgeon, I have been asking the Lord for that very amount.” And those two prayerful men rejoiced together.
5. Spurgeon returned to London. On his desk, he found a letter awaiting him. He opened it to find it contained 330 Pounds. “There!” he cried with joy, “the Lord has returned my 300 Pounds with 10% interest!” [Henry Durbanville]
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you need a miracle this morning? Are you down to nothing? Do you need a miracle of healing? Is there a door you need opened?
2. Let’s come down to the front, join together, and cry out to God to come to our aid.
3. He says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” Ps. 50:15.
4. PRAYER
[Section two adopts some of Jim Twamley’s ideas in his message of the same title.]
