The famous motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, tells the story of a boy that went with his mother to the old general store. He liked to sneak away from his mother and when no one was looking he would dip his finger into the large barrel of molasses.
The storekeeper caught him doing this and decided to teach the boy a lesson. So he picked up the boy by his britches and dunked him head first into the barrel of molasses and then set him out on the front porch of the store. But instead of crying the boy was out there praying, "God, give me the tongue to equal this opportunity." This boy made the choice to not miss an opportunity.
Another story is told of a little boy whose mother was preparing pancakes for him and his brother. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake... Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson, If Jesus were sitting here, she said, He would say let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait. The little boy then turned to his younger brother and said, Ryan, You be Jesus.
We can laugh but the truth is that you and I are given opportunities everyday. The choice for us then becomes what we do with these opportunities.
With that in mind would you turn once again with me to 1 Kings chapter
17 beginning in verse 10.
The widow once she encountered Elijah was faced with many opportunities. She was faced with a choice- a choice to trust and obey Elijah’s God or to not trust and obey Him. When she chose to obey, she and her family were saved.
Once salvation came to her family she was confronted with a new opportunity- An opportunity to share this new resource with her extended family, friends, and neighbors. Would she choose to keep her new found life giving bread to herself or share it with others?
Picture it for a minute. We are not sure how God provided for the widow. He either allowed the oil and flour to almost overflow and then let it never decrease or he allowed only enough oil and flour in the container to make bread; so that every time she dipped her hand into the containers she experienced again the joy of the provision. Regardless of how it lay in the container, once she was saved; she was faced with the question: What about others? What about my neighbors? And in that question lay the opportunity to share... the opportunity to let others know what God had done for her.
In this same way if you have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you too have been given the life-saving bread; so then as a result of this gift, you too are given the opportunity to share.
So then how and what do you share.
First, You pray
For this widow, she was presented with a problem to share about her gift of salvation would take much boldness and courage. It would take divine wisdom to know when to share, how to share, and who to share with.
F or you see to share with others would bring attention to herself and to her house guest Elijah. To trust in another’s God was tantamount to treason and could result in her death. So how could she share?
Well she had to begin by asking the God of Elijah to show her who, how, and when to share. Now scripture doesn’t record how or if this happened, but one day in heaven I would love to ask her -so what did you do?
But the scriptures are clear to us we are commanded by God to share. So how do we break through our fear. Start by talking with God. Be honest with him. Tell him you are scared and afraid what someone will say or do. Then pray this, God you show me. If you really are sincere wait, and God will gladly answer.
A story is told of a guy who prayed this prayer every morning: "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is." One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get very nervous about the man next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep. He then cried out with a loud voice, "I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?" He turned to the Christian and pleaded, "Can you show me how to be saved?" The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, IILord, is this a sign?1I
If we will keep our eyes open, God will show us, and then when he shows
us the ball then moves to our court.
Realize also there is no timetable to praying for a friend’s salvation; so we
need to be persistent and consistent in our prayers.
When George Mueller got saved, He had five lost friends. He began to pray for these 5 friends. Five years went by, and one got saved. Fifteen years went by and 2 others got saved. Twenty-five years went by and the 4th got
saved! Fifty-two years after he began praying for these friends, he died. Six months after George Muller’s funeral, the last 5th friend got saved! Prayer works!
Second give the bread- meet the physical need
Can you imagine the scene if the widow went to her neighbor’s house and begin to tell about how God had provided food for her family and how she was no longer hungry or starving and never share the bread with the starving neighbors. The words would have been hollow and mean spirited.
No if she was to share she had to begin by giving them her bread, her
food, and meeting their physical need.
A year ago 12 of us traveled to War, West Virginia. Our task was to repair a home with intensive water damage. The woman’s name was Marsha Timpson. Marsha was un-churched and by all appearances had no relationship with Jesus Christ. Her son was severely mentally impaired. He suffered from bouts of explosive speech and violence.
After three days of repairing her home at no cost to her; she could do nothing but cry saying how can I ever repay you.? How can I ever thank you enough? After meeting that physical need, Marsha was more interested in talking about Jesus and church. Why? Because we started where she was and moved from there to share the life giving bread of Jesus.
William Barclay says: More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world"
Third tell who provided the bread- Tell them about Jesus
Once the widow gave the bread, the meal, her next job was to share that the God of the prophet Elijah not their own nation’s God’s provided the life saving bread. Boldly giving testimony to the one true God.
Each of us who have a relationship with Jesus have a word to say about him; how he saved you, how he provides for you, how he walks with you and talks with you. And that word needs to be shared.
Howard Hendricks once said, "In the midst of a generation screaming for
answers, Christians are stuttering."
In a stuttering world that is afraid to tell others about Jesus, I am proud that we have some especially in our youth group who is willing to share. What better illustration of this point than to hear directly from one of them. Listen as Brian Wiggins shares his testimony- his story.
We need to tell them about Jesus.
Finally we need to share with a sense of urgency
Had the widow delayed - People, her neighbors, family and friends in
Zarephath would have died. She couldn’t wait she had to share NOW.
For you and I we don’t know what will happen each minute, hour, day or
year. We can not delay anymore we must let others know about our Jesus.
Some time ago an 18-year-old girl from Washington state attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:
Dear Church members:
Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God.
But then he also said God loved men and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in him would go to heaven and live with God eternally.
My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Savior of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned.
You compel me to believe that either the message is true, or that you yourself don’t believe this message, or that you don’t care. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.
We have the bread of life it is time we share it. It is time that we care enough to share the very best. Would you pray with me.
