God Will Provide the Oil

second kings chapter 4 and verse 1 now there cried as certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto elisha saying thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the lord and the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen and elisha said unto her what shall i do for thee tell me what hast thou in the house and she said thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil then he said go borrow these vessels abroad of all the neighbors even empty vessels borrow not a few and when thou art come in thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons and shall pour out into all those vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full so she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons who brought the vessels to her and she poured out and it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said unto her son bring me yet a vessel and he sent it to her there is not a vessel more and the oil stayed then she came and told the man of god and he said go sell the oil and pay the debt and live thou and thy children of the rest and then i want to bring up one other verse of scripture hebrews 11 and 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him i'm going to preach to you this morning god will provide the oil i believe this morning that if we'll act with faith if we'll bring the vessels that we have if we bring what we have that god's gonna pour out no matter what you're dealing with no matter what situation you face no matter what problem you're going through maybe you need a financial miracle maybe you have a situation going on with your job maybe you have something in your family that you just need the miraculous hand of god to intervene i believe that this morning god is going to touch you that if you'll bring the vessel if you'll act on faith that god's going to pour out that god's going to do the work why don't we raise our hands one more time and just thank god for what we feel in this place there you go lift your voice unto the lord [Music] you may be seated for our altar call today we will be taking up pledges for move the mission i'll i'll kind of give you some instructions as we near the end move the mission i just want to i know that the church has talked about it and that you you all are very familiar with move the mission but i just want to say it is that fundraising arm of upci youth ministries that funds missions and ministries around the world move the mission provides those vehicles for our missionaries it's exactly what puts wheels on the gospel it supplies church planners with finances to support their churches it also does numerous other things but it also provides scholarships to students and also supports youth events in your district another little maybe ministry that it supports is bible quizzing and i know that there was a bible quizzing team out of atlanta west that went to senior nationals do we have any of those quizzers in the room raise your hand maybe there we go we got a few so why don't we give them a hand for being there in nationals do you know what an accomplishment that is to be at nationals this church has always been faithful with your giving and we thank you for always supporting move the mission thank you for your sacrificial offering last year and why don't you put your hands together one more time for that miraculous hand of god that intervened and helped us accomplish that [Applause] so we talk about faith faith is what preachers will preach on they preach towards faith they want faith we want faith to increase in our lives we want more faith not less faith right everyone in this room needs more faith we need to be able to build faith we need to encourage faith i believe that faith is our very start with our walk with god without faith it is impossible to please god jesus said he that believeth on me hath everlasting life jesus was saying if you can have faith in me then you can have everlasting life when we repent of our sins we are saying we have faith that god will forgive us of those sins jesus was saying the very beginning of our salvation is faith look at your neighbor and say faith so what is faith hebrews 11 and 1 says now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen when you believe on something that you cannot see it's faith when you put trust in things you do not have it evidence will ever come to pass that is faith i have a couple of stories that i would just like to share from the bible that i believe illustrates this faith the first one being daniel and the lion's den most of us are familiar with that story how dave daniel i believe i said daniel not david daniel and the lion's den although daniel found favor with the king there were others around him who didn't like him there were some others around him that wanted to find fault with him they wanted him to be in trouble they wanted him to not be able to worship any other god like he was doing and so they created this scenario to have daniel killed no one was to pray or petition to any other god except for the king for 30 days they knew that daniel prayed every day three times a day the men gathered and they found daniel praying just as he had always done and they brought it to king darius the king was so upset with himself he wanted to be able to deliver daniel he wanted to be able to intervene but it was his decree that was going to put him to death the king was so upset he couldn't do anything he was bound by this law and so he had to cast daniel into the lion's den the next morning the king came to the den and cried out to daniel and daniel rises up and says o king live forever my god has sent this angel and has shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee o king have i not been hurt only god can shut the mouths of lines only by daniel's faith did he understand that there was a god that was bigger than his trial only by his faith did he understand that there was a god who was going to intervene on his behalf he didn't know how he didn't know when he didn't know how it was going to take place but he understood that his god was bigger than him his god was bigger than the trial his god was bigger than the situation it's hard for us to fathom how could this be possible in fact if we were to hear this story today and and it was one to happen in in today's society we would probably look at that person a little cross side like really that's the short story you're going to share like did that really happen but that is faith faith unleashes the miracles how is it possible i don't know but faith daniel had a faith that his god was going to see him through similar story shadrach meshach and they are forced to bow or to be thrown into this furnace they decide not to bow instead they decide to trust in their god nebuchadnezzar the king was furious that these three hebrew boys would not bow to him he heated up this furnace seven times hotter than it already was he commanded the boys to be thrown in and the furnace being so hot caused the men who threw them in to be consumed by the fire but in the midst of chaos there were three hebrew boys who stood in a fiery furnace and the king looks at him and he looks at the people around him and he says did we not only throw three and they said yeah that's true we only threw three then why am i seeing four in the fire oh yeah i need you to hear me this morning you need to understand that in the middle of your trial in the middle of your chaos in the middle of everything that's going on there is a god who's going to stand by your side when you bring your faith when you bring the vessel when you bring faith god's going to pour out into your circumstance nebuchadnezzar didn't know what to do but these three men stood on faith when faced with uncertainty they didn't know if for how or god was going to save them they just understood that their king was bigger than the circumstance we serve a god who can work the miraculous as great as these stories are and as great as they show how our faith can work what i believe is even more important is seeing faith work in a person's life and seeing faith propel them to receiving the gift of the holy ghost aren't you thankful for the holy ghost this morning aren't you thankful for his spirit that's being poured out aren't you thankful for when you need him that he's right there by your side that peace that sweeps into your room that peace that sweeps into your home i'm thankful for the holy spirit that will move when someone adds faith to their life and understands that they can receive the gift of the holy book ghost that is the greatest miracle you can receive or see in someone else's life how unimaginable it is to think about this jesus who would die for our sins before we were born he died so you and i would have an opportunity to be saved he places this choice in our hands so we don't have to live this life of sin the sins you were to commit the sins that are in your future the sins that you have committed can all be washed away because of calvary a god who would love us so much every one of us with our faults and our failures but when we acknowledge them and bring them to an altar god reaches down and washes them all away there are some that have a hard time believing the blood of jesus can wash away all of our sin but that's exactly what his blood did on calvary i'm so thankful for the blood of jesus that washes us white as snow that washes us clean once again when i messed up when i've committed a sin there was a savior who cared enough about me that he saw into the future and died on a cross for my sins it gives me an opportunity to be saved when i believe on him it gives me an opportunity to repent to be baptized and to receive the gift of the holy ghost it might be unimaginable but when you match your faith with the blood of jesus you get an opportunity to encounter salvation i no longer have to be bound by sin but i have an opportunity to be saved i no longer have to be held by my past but i i can be saved i know that there's probably a former drug addict a former alcoholic in the room but you've been saved by grace you've been saved because you brought your faith and you brought it to an altar and you repented of your sin i remember back in pensacola a few years ago we had a vbs a vacation bible school and all of these little students all these little kids come to this vacation bible school and they're all gathered around the front and she talks about the power of the holy ghost and she talks about forgiving of our sins and she talks about repentance and all these little students come up to the front and they they raise their hands and they repent of their sins and you could just watch the spirit of god move through that place and fill each and every one of them with the power of the holy ghost it was the most miraculous things i believe it was in that moment i realized just what a miracle it is to receive the gift of the holy ghost i'm so thankful for a savior who died for my sins so that my kids don't have to be bound by sin so that i don't have to be bound by sin there is a savior who cares for you and i thank you they brought their faith and when they lifted up their hands they started speaking with other tongues as the spirit gave utterance what a miracle that we can receive today this lady comes to elisha with a need she's down to just a pot of oil the creditors are on the porch they plan on taking her two sons and elisha tells her to go and borrow all the vessels that she can his words are borrowed not a few but borrow all that you can bring all the vessels that you have that you can find that you can go and borrow borrow not a few because if you can borrow as much as you can then god's gonna pour the oil as long as you bring the vessel as long as you have faith see what she did that day is her faith was going and getting those vessels she had to understand that elijah knew something that she didn't she understood that day that if she goes and she finds all the vessels that god's gonna do something she just had to obey in faith god i'm trusting you god i don't know how you're gonna do it i don't know what you're gonna do i just know that i'm gonna go and i'm gonna i'm gonna put my faith in action and i'm gonna borrow all the vessels that i can when you come back to your house with all these vessels shut the door and start pouring so she went and she borrowed all that she could and she started to pour out she took the little bottle of oil and she starts pouring it may look like just a small little bottle of oil it may look not look like much at all to you and i it may be just something small that we're bringing but she just kept pouring what she had i just have a little bit but i'm going to pour the through the first vessel lookie there i've still got some more so i'm going to go to the next vessel move it away i'm going to the next vessel i'm going to keep pouring out until all the vessels are full to you and i it's just a bottle it's just a bottle of oil it's not much at all but i'm gonna do everything that the man of god told me i'm gonna act on faith and i'm gonna keep pouring in other words if you will go and do all you can if you will go and mix your faith with action if you will act on your faith then god's gonna show up and he's gonna supply the oil whatever you're willing to borrow or whatever you're willing to have faith for is what god's gonna pour out the more vessels you bring the more oil that can be poured the more vessels there are the more oil that's produced the more faith you have the more action you put in the more faith that you have the more oil that's being poured out he will produce the oil look at your neighbor and say he's going to produce hebrews 11 and 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him it is impossible to please god if we do not produce faith but when we produce faith he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him i don't know what you have need of this morning we have a promise in hebrews that god will reward us we often talk about this monetary reward god gives out but it's not always a monetary reward that god gives back we illustrate this because it's easy to illustrate there's this reward that is measurable the money the check in the mail anybody still waiting on the check in the mail i need one of those testimonies i want to come back and have one of those testimonies where i receive the check in the mail my pastor always preaches and he says you know i go out and i preach for other people and i feel god tell me that they're going to receive a check in the mail but i'm still waiting on the check in the mail anybody can relate this morning maybe this morning though it's not necessarily financial that you'll receive but maybe there's a need for health in your family or there's something going on in the marriage that needs some understanding and some clarity and some help maybe you need strength you're facing a decision or you're facing circumstances and you just need the peace of god in your life maybe god has watched over your family in times past because you've been faithful in your giving [Music] maybe god's been there for you and you maybe haven't even given him credit for it but he's been there because you've been faithful we serve a faithful god i've just come to remind you once again that i don't know how he's gonna reward you i don't know what he's gonna do for your family i don't know what he's gonna do in your situation i just have a word in the bible that says he is a rewarder maybe it's the holy ghost you need this morning he's a rewarder maybe you have the financial miracle you need he's a rewarder look at your neighbor and say he is a rewarder [Applause] god's blessings they flow jesus you need to understand this morning that jesus controls this universe there isn't anything that god doesn't understand this morning there isn't a trial you're faced with that god doesn't know about this morning there isn't something that's going on in your life that god does not know about but i've come to tell you he is a rewarder if you'll show up faithfully if you'll put your faith in action then he will reward you this god that we serve owns the cattle on a thousand hills this god that you serve is the great physician this god that you serve is a miraculous working god you need to understand there is faith this morning if you have faith that god is going to work he will work in your life there is not a miracle that is too big for our god i just want to share a few stories with you about miracles that have taken place there was a church where a new convert comes to church and he makes this pledge the week of the move the mission offering then the next week he comes and he's healed of chronic pain that he's had for several years because my god is a rewarder i don't know how you're going to show up god but you're a rewarder not only did was that healed not only did that happen in his life but then that week 70 000 in student loans are forgiven because my god is a rewarder i made a pledge i made faith i put my faith in action he's a rewarder then when you think that's just good enough that that's beyond there's nothing else our god can do he also gives him eleven thousand dollars in tuition covered by his work look at your neighbor say he's a rewarder my god that i serve there is nothing that is too big for him there's another man who gave 200 to move the mission that week a warranty dispute resolved the next week the company paid the entirety of a two thousand dollar warranty claim from several years ago coincidence it happens the week of the move the mission offering my god is a rewarder the same week an ongoing situation involving possible litigation from an accident five years ago was dropped because my god is a rewarder then there's a couple they're discussing their budget it's tight they don't know how they're going to pay the bills and they forgot as they're discussing it about their 500 move the mess move the mission pledge that they made they even joked sarcastically and with a bad attitude where our where's our check in the mail waiting i've been there wondering how it's going to get done waiting for something to happen but the next day an unexpected check of 710 dollars from another state that was owed for unemployment for over a year ago showed up in the mail because my god is a rewarder if you believe that he's a rewarder why don't you raise your hands this morning and just thank him lord we thank you for being a rewarder so my question is what kind of faith will you act upon this morning what kind of faith will you have what kind of vessels will you bring how much oil will god be able to pour out today because of your faith in the next few moments we're going to provide everyone with a chance to give the opportunity to make a faith pledge for the cause of move the mission i believe that we are about to act on faith in the next few moments this is a written pledge for us bringing the vessels and god's going to pour out if you feel impressed to participate in this offering pledge i want you to take the pledge card that's been made available to you and i want us to pray together before you fill it out i want us to pray that what the lord would have us to write down when we pray this isn't about what brother stafford has impressed upon you to give but it's about what god has impressed upon you to give if you have that card why don't you just take it out and raise it put it in your hand and put it above your head let's raise it and let's just pray to god right now let's bow our heads and pray lord we thank you for this opportunity today to give we thank you for the opportunity to sow into your kingdom jesus thank you for the people of atlanta west this morning in the faith that they have we thank you for the many years of giving that this church has blessed the kingdom with god i pray you would help each and every person in this room to know what they should write down help them to know how many vessels to bring this morning how to act on their faith i pray over each and every person i pray that you would bless and multiply each and every person that gives lord we thank you for this opportunity and we thank you for what you're impressing on each and every soul to give this morning god we thank you for it in the name of jesus amen