Enough Until It Comes | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments
Captions
First Kings, chapter 17, verse 7.   "Some time later the brook dried up  because there had been no rain in the land.   Then the word of the LORD came to him [Elijah  the prophet]: 'Go at once to Zarephath   in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have  directed a widow there to supply you with food.'   So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the  town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks.   He called to her and asked, 'Would you bring me  a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?'   As she was going to get it, he called,  'And bring me, please, a piece of bread.' 'As surely as the LORD your God lives,'  she replied…" This is an indication of the   magnitude of the miracle; that it's not even her  god that the prophet represents. She is going to   have to make a choice to obey. "'As surely as  the LORD your God lives,' she replied 'I don't   have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar  and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering   a few sticks to take home and make a meal for  myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.' How many of you, if you're the prophet,   you're sorry you asked at this point  because you didn't really ask all of that? "Elijah said to her, 'Don't be afraid. Go home  and do as you have said. But first make a small   loaf of bread for me from what you have and  bring it to me, and then make something for   yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD,  the God of Israel, says: "The jar of flour will   not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry  until the day the LORD sends rain on the land."' She went away and did as Elijah had told  her. So there was food every day for Elijah   and for the woman and her family.  For the jar of flour was not used up   and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping  with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah."   Okay, the Lord told me to tell you this for our  message today. Look at your neighbor and say,   "God promised to give you enough until it comes." This is the Mother's Day message:  Enough Until It Comes. Are   you waiting on something from God? He told me  to tell you prophetically (not pathetically)   that he promised to give  you enough until it comes.   All right. Y'all take your premium seat, and let's  talk about this text, this story, for a moment.   Because I'm surely not going to give a parenting  sermon on Mother's Day, but I might just preach   a few practical things from this passage  about a prophet, a problem, and a mom. So, you be the mom, and I'll be the prophet,  and we want to talk about what God said:   Enough Until It Comes. I'm biased, but I  think Holly Furtick would beat all of y'all   in a "momming" competition. Not that there is  such a competition. We do give her a hard time,   because every family that can't  make fun of itself is dysfunctional.   So if you ever see a family and nobody  picks on anybody, that is a sad family. Trust me, I have to regulate and referee in   our house. "That's enough. That's three  times with Abbey, one time with Graham,   and five times with Holly. Y'all leave your  mom alone." But there's one thing we all pick   on her about. It happened right here on this  very stage. I want to say it was on Mother's   Day. I'm not sure. It'll make the story better  if it was, so let's say it was Mother's Day. She was up here preaching, and after her sermon…  I'm going to tell you why she did it, and then   I'm going to tell you what she did. After  her sermon she said, "I want to go into Way   Maker." Do y'all know the song Way Maker? Now, let  me tell you something. I have written many songs   to bless our church. Way Maker is not one of them.  I wish I wrote Way Maker. That's a great song,   but I didn't write that song.  We didn't write that song. She stands in my pulpit, closes her message  where she was speaking about Jesus is the way,   and I know the way, so I know how she  got there, I know why she got there,   but what she said was devastating. She ripped  out this songwriter pastor's heart. She said,   "You know, there are a lot of great songs  out there…Graves Into Gardens, The Blessing,   Rattle!…" The songs we wrote.  "…but my favorite is Way Maker." We will never let her live it down. And what  better way to earn points with your wife after   a two-week tour than to pick on her on Mother's  Day in your opening sermon illustration. Right?   We always do it. Every time. We'll say, "Mom, do  you want to sing your favorite song? 'Way maker,   miracle worker, promise keeper"? We love  her so much. "We love you so much. You're   amazing. You're our way maker. You're our  miracle worker." Okay, okay. Giving it up. Since this is you're favorite song, if I could  have written it I would have added one thing to   it. I want you to think about this really quickly.  Not just the moms. Don't log off because I said   Mother's Day. That's not code word for saying this  sermon isn't for you. This word is for you. But if   we're going to call that a way maker, miracle  worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness,   I also want to talk about how  he's a need meeter. Right? How good are you at letting God meet your needs?  And, what do you tend to run to instead of God   in times you need relief or  resource? And, is it possible   that those things you run to are the things that  you have replaced God with in your life? I'll   just look right here at my pulpit and not look at  y'all, because you do not like this sermon so far. It's going to get good in a minute,  but first we have to talk about   the context of confrontation  in 1 Kings 17 with a prophet,   a mom, and a problem. Now, the whole nation  has a problem called famine. Drought,   which causes famine, has now become so severe that  they have the king's men out searching for grass. It's really his fault because he brought this  woman named Jezebel. I don't think there are   many preachers in America bold enough to preach  on Jezebel on Mother's Day except yours truly. She   is…catch this…a Phoenician princess. But  they worshipped different gods than Yahweh.   So when Ahab decided to bring  this Phoenician princess   into the ecosystem and the religious system  of Israel it caused all kinds of compromise. Maybe not all at first, but gradually it  began to corrupt everything about the way   God's people worshipped the God who had  called them and named them. Eventually,   Ahab got so bold about it that he set up a  center for Baal worship. That was the name of   one of their gods that controlled the  rain and fertility, so they thought. They thought that all the way up until Yahweh,   the God who is the real God, said, "Okay, if Baal  is so big and bad, tell him to make it rain. Oh,   he can't? That's right. Because I am God. I  am the source. I am the one. I have the word   that sustains life, starts life, and ends  life." That's kind of the context of 1 Kings 17.   I point that out to you because both of  the people in this passage of Scripture   that I read to you are dealing with a  problem that's not completely their fault. The prophet Elijah has prophesied there will  be no rain nor dew except at my word over the   space of the next few years. He said that to  Ahab, and then he went into hiding. This woman…   She's not even an Israelite. She's hanging out in  Sidon, which happens to be Jezebel's home town. She's the one who is going to try  to kill Elijah in a few chapters   after he goes up on Mount Carmel and says, "Hey,  Baal. Are you busy? Are you using the bathroom?   Send some rain since you're really god." You have  to understand. This was a tremendously cruel and   tormenting system the people were living under,  trying to appease Baal, who wasn't a god at all.   Depending on a god who can't save. Depending  on a god who is not a god will leave you dry. I want you to hear something from me today. I'm  not a prophet, but just as a preacher prophesying   God's Word… Everything you depend on that  does not come from God will eventually dry up.   I'll take it further. Everything that is not  God, even if it's good, will eventually dry up. Even people who like you will get tired of you  if you start needing them to meet needs that God   is designed to meet. Some of the people who you  are angry with… They are good people, but they are   not God. When you try to make a good relationship  a God in your life it becomes an idol.   The passage in 1 Kings 17 is about  idolatry. It's about what happens when   you decide to run to the  resource and neglect the source. I'm going to break this down so  everybody in the room can confront it.   When I fill every spare moment of my life  with social media, how can God speak to me?   If I run to that, if that becomes my first  resource and recourse any time I want to   escape my mind then how can the peace of God  guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus? You could say that about sex. You could say  that about a pill. You could say that about   a donut. I could go all day long. How long do  you have? I mean, I have a big list of stuff   that I've tried to run through, run to, that  wasn't God, and… I said that accidentally,   but it was kind of good. If you run to something  that's not God, you will run through it   eventually. It will not sustain you, it will not  last forever, and it can only give you so much. Now there's been no rain in the land. Why? Because  the people needed to repent and come back to God.   Maybe you do too. Maybe you  need to say, "You know, God,   I'm experiencing a dryness in my life right now  that indicates the fact that I have been replacing   you with something that is not you." See, I think  dryness is often a gift God uses to direct us. God directs by dryness to show you, "Something  is wrong here. This isn't working here.   Wow… I keep putting more effort, more effort,  and more effort, but I'm not getting more   results. I'm not getting more joy. I'm  not getting more peace. I keep doing more,   and I keep feeling less." That is a sign  that God is redirecting you. To the text… First Kings, chapter 17, says  Elijah is hanging out by a brook   because there had been no rain in the  land. You don't know what restraint I   am using not to preach about the fact that he is  suffering from the problem his prophecy caused.   Did you catch it? He said, "There's  going to be no rain." So God says,   "Since I made you say there's going to be no rain,  and since nothing can grow where there is no rain,   I'm going to show you where to run where  you can receive even though there's no rain. It works for a while. Eventually, the  Bible says the late autumn rains and the   early winter rains that were meant  to replenish the land didn't come.   Now, we know by nature that the brook  didn't dry up all at once. I mean,   you don't go from a brook that's filled with  water to a brook that has no water just like that. So every day Elijah went… This is a pretty good  setup he has. Let me tell you what God did.   God's like, "I'm going to give you water from  the brook even though there's no rain in the   land because you spoke a word to bring the  people to a place, back to worshipping me.   I'm going to bring you to a brook, and  I'm going to let you drink from the brook,   but you need to eat too, so I'm going to send  birds." And not just any birds… Y'all ready?   Dirty birds. "I'm going to send some  ravens." These are unclean birds. For a Jewish boy to eat from a dirty bird, that's  a bad system already. But God would meet Elijah's   needs daily through the mouth of a bird he  considered unclean. He would meet his needs   daily at the brook called Cherith. The Hebrew,  the Kerith Ravine, gives the impression that   he's by this brook, and every day he wakes  up and there's something for him to drink. How many of you would say that in your life  there were seasons where God provided new   mercies every day in your life? Let me be more  specific. You didn't know how he kept you going.   You didn't know how. It didn't add  up. It doesn't even make sense,   but you had something to drink. It doesn't  even make sense, but you had something to eat. It doesn't even make sense, but you got up and  went to your job. And your job sucks. (Sorry Mom.)   You didn't want to be there.  You didn't ask to be there.   But I have watched in my own life times where  something that was sustaining me in one season   started to go away in the next  season. It goes away slowly. The Lord is going to minister to  somebody today whose brook is drying up.   The thing that used to bring you joy or comfort…  It's no longer bringing it to you anymore.   Your brook is drying up. You're thinking, "Maybe  I did something bad. Maybe I did something wrong."   No. Elijah did exactly what God told  him to, and his brook still dried up. There is no indication that God gave him   an incremental warning. "In 14 days this brook  will be dry." He watched the water level go down,   down, down and waited for a word from  God to tell him what to do about it.   When it says in the Bible the word of the Lord  came, in verse 8, it says nothing of the space   before the word of God came where Elijah had  to sit there and watch the water level go down   while his thirst increased and his hunger was  not abated but his resource was not replenished.   The Bible says that as it went down, Elijah,   waiting for the word of God to come, has to wait  in a place where he doesn't know he's going next. I'm preaching to somebody today who is  waiting for God to give you your next step.   Who is it? And you don't know what it is  yet. You need God to show you your next step.   Who is it? You need God to show you a next step in  your life, because, "God, I can't stay where I am,   like I am, where it is. This isn't going to  work. I have to move on, but I don't know where." Now you feel like Abraham, to whom God  said, "Go to the place I'll show you."   What kind of weird life coaching is this? "Go  where I'll show you." It makes me think of   Psalm 119, verse 105." Verse 105. That's how long  Psalm 119 is. You get all the way to verse 105,   and the psalmist says, "Your word is a  lamp to my feet and a light to my path." But I don't really like the fact that God's Word  is compared to a lamp to my feet, because what I   really want is a floodlight, where I can see all  the way to my future…10 years from now. Especially   as a parent. "God, show me exactly where my kids  need to go to college so I can know how much I   need to save and when I need to put it there,"  and my kid is 3. But God is not going to give me   the name of the college when my kid is 3  when I have barely gotten them walking. But in our walk with God, a lot of times we won't  take a step toward a destination we don't know   until God gives us all the details.  That's not faith. He had to   wait for the next word from God, and until  it came God kept him sustained in a place   that was enough. It wasn't  fancy, but it was enough. It wasn't bougie, but the birds  got the job done. It wasn't 5 star,   but his belly stayed full. God is sustaining  some of us in a place in this season   of our life where it's enough, but we don't know  what's next. The problem isn't that God isn't   faithful to us in this moment; the problem  with us is we haven't read Matthew 6:34. Jesus has a word for everybody who is  trying to project out into the future   a promise that God will not  give you until you get there.   If I came to preach this message just to Holly  and me it will have been worth me putting on   this itchy Levi's jacket that Josiah gave me,  because Jesus said, "Here's your problem." Look at Matthew 6:34. Y'all got it?  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,   for tomorrow will worry about itself."  Then I love this part. "Each day has   enough trouble of its own." So wait  for the day to bring the trouble.   Don't borrow trouble from tomorrow that you may  never have to face anyway, because God might   do something about it overnight. Yeah! It's  Mother's Day, but I've got a word from God.   I realized that a lot of us are not really losing  the battle that we're fighting in the moment;   we're losing the battle we're  imagining is going to happen out there. Sufficient is the day for its own trouble,  and sufficient is today's strength for   today's struggles, but today's strength is  not sufficient for tomorrow's struggles.   God will not give you the entire plan. It's  kind of like GPS. He told Elijah turn by turn.   "Go east of the Jordan. There I have directed  these birds." Now, he can't leave Elijah there   forever, because if he leaves Elijah in one  spot long enough where he provides for him   Elijah will begin to worship the  spot and think the spot is God.   Have you confused the spot where God blessed  you with the God who blessed you there? You worship the situation, or even worship  the person. Y'all, I say this about once a   year to make sure you know it. If I don't show  up to preach next week… You know, my head gets   cut off or something like that. I don't know  what might happen to me. I might be riding   a bike and might run under something and cut my  head off and I can't come preach. If that happens,   y'all still need to get to church because  God will put up here the person you need. It's not me. I'm just a dirty bird. I'm just  dropping off the stuff God wants you to have.   I have a lot more birds. I want to be the  best bird I can be. I'm trying to stay clean,   stay holy, stay studied, and all that, but  God will not leave you with a need he will   not meet. He just might meet it differently  in different seasons. And that's intentional. Because if Elijah had stayed at the brook  for the whole three years during the famine   he probably would have been temped  to start worshiping the birds.   How can he confront Baal worship if he thinks  the birds bringing him the food are God.   So the brook dried up. God uses the dryness in  our lives…the dry places and the dry seasons…to   lead us to our next assignment. Does that  make a little bit more sense of why you've   been feeling like you've been feeling?  What is God using in your life to move you?   Now, remember. He doesn't move  him to somewhere more comfortable.   He calls him to somewhere even crazier. It's  one thing to get water in the wilderness;   it's another thing to be sent to get  it from a widow in enemy territory. So God will send you to places to  provide for you that you may not prefer.   I can't buy an "Amen, Holly." Do you want to  take over? I know it's good. The Lord told   me it was good. He told me to preach this  word to you today because he wants to show   you the dryness in your life is not a sign he  has left you; it is a sign he is moving you. I don't mean physically. I mean moving you to new  patterns. Moving you to a new way of doing things.   Moving you…if we want to make it a Mother's  Day sermon…to a new way of parenting your kids.   I think the greatest skill to learn in life   is the difference between what you can  control and what you can't control. Now, in the story both the prophet Elijah and  the mom whom he's going to meet… He doesn't   know he's going to meet her yet. He's about  to find out, and you're about to find out   why God is working in your life. But he will not  tell you that until it's time for you to know.   Say this out loud. "I know enough  for now. When I need to know more,   God will show me more. Sometimes, when I'm  waiting for the next word to come from God   I am still stuck in the last 30 words he spoke  to me that I haven't done a thing about." You have enough Bible verses in your phone right  now to beat the Devil's behind back to Timbuktu   every time…or wherever he comes from. You can  beat him back to the sixth level of hell with the   Scripture you have. "Well, I need a word from God  today." Okay, I know what you mean by that, but   did you walk in the last word from God  you heard? Because a lot of times I don't. The Lord already told me some stuff  to do. I just don't like that stuff.   I'm addicted to the feeling of the next thing  he tells me to do because the next is sexier,   and the last thing he told me to do, I don't  like it very much. One thing he told me to   do in the Bible… This is a Bible verse. This  is not a personal word. This is a universal   word in the Holy Scriptures of almighty God.  Yahweh, maker of heaven and earth. He said,   "Do everything without complaining and grumbling."  I'm still working on that word. Do you hear me? In the meantime… A lot of times we use it as  an excuse. "Well, I don't know how. I don't   know where. I don't know what. God, if you  show me… God, if you tell me…" God is like,   "No, no, no, no. You know enough right now."  If you needed to know more he would show you.   You know enough exercises to be in good shape.   You've heard of push-ups. You've heard  of sit-ups. You've heard of dumbbells.   You know to put this down and pick this up and  do that over and over again. You know enough. It was enough. He was by the brook. He wasn't  stressed. He wasn't confused. If he was,   the Bible doesn't say. He just waited until the  next word, knowing, "If God fed me here, if God   replenished me here, if God sustained me here,  if he took me in this wilderness, if the birds   brought my food, whatever is next will have what  I need, and I don't even need to know what it is." So the Lord was preparing you in Canada  while my last music director was leaving.   I'm not mad at him. God had you in Canada. He  was practicing in Canada to my sermons, and we   had never met. We had never interviewed him, and  LJ would play organ to my sermons to practice   before I ever knew that on  the eighth day God made LJ. Now, let me bring this down really specifically  for you. That means I know we all want to   know…especially if we're talking about with  our kids…every struggle they're going to face,   and we all secretly fear we're screwing them  up, because we don't know what we're doing. I am bluffing you every day. I am tour-guiding you  through a terrain I barely survived as a teenager.   And I love God, because he's so good.  O Lord, help me help them see that they   know enough. And when they need more  wisdom, God will send more wisdom.   When it comes to the point… When Harold Staley  used to teach me guitar, and then he finally said,   "You need another teacher. I have  taught you everything I know,"   so he moved me to another teacher. I'm glad he did that, because it gave  me an illustration for how I can trust   God that when it's time for a new stream or a new  teacher he will use something to move me along.   Now, can we do a quick parenting conference?   God knows what's next. He doesn't want you  to, because if you did you'd screw it up   trying to be him. You would make an idol out of  your idea of what you're kid's life needs to be,   and you would end up depending on Baal to send  rain instead of waiting on God to send his. So…a confession. God is going to send  everybody my kids need into their lives.   And, while you're at it Lord, keep all  those other ones out. I don't care what   you have to do… Relocate their parents at  another job in Kansas City, whatever Lord. Because you know what they need, and I  don't. That's my favorite prayer to pray   before I preach. I've tried a bunch of them,  okay? But this one seems to work best. "Lord,   they need something I don't have and  you do. Give it to them through me."   And then the Lord speaks to me. It said  the word of the Lord came to Elijah,   and then it came through Elijah. Because,  really, the brook's drying up had nothing   to do with the prophet, did it? It  had everything to do with this mom. Talk about vague… God said, "I'm going  to send you to a widow in a region.   Go to Sidon…" Now, Zarephath is seven miles south  of Sidon, so he actually has to go even past.   He has to go way out there. The Lord is  like, "I'm going to send you to a widow."   Let me tell you something. A zip code is not an  address, so when the Lord says to go to Sidon, I'm   going to be like, "All right. Can you be a little  more specific? Can I get the street number?" I know you might have forgotten  it; I read it a few minutes ago.   The Scripture says that when he got to  the gate there was a woman there who was   gathering sticks…two twigs, the original language  says. So she has two twigs, and she has a son.   I noticed this, as Elijah's brook was drying  up, this woman's son was dying. So God,   the need-meeter, knows that his prophet  needs a meal and this mother needs a miracle.   God is this sovereign that he will take  a need and put a need next to a need,   and he will get in the middle of those needs and  create a space for himself that is called grace. He will supply all of your needs according to his  riches in glory. I might stay at 11:30 and preach   this again. God is that good at his job. God is  good at his job. In some of our lives, God wants   his job back. We have been trying to do God's job.  We have been trying to make it happen in our own   strength. We have been trying to manipulate it in  our own strength, and that's why we're stressed. Any strategy that does not start with God as  the source will dry up, and now your strength   is dried up. Now your friends aren't calling  you back. Now nobody wants to talk to you.   Now you have no energy. Now you have no  ideas because you're too tired to think.   You're filling all the empty  spaces with everything but God. He redirects this prophet to a mom so that the mom  can feed the prophet. Or is it so the prophet can   feed the mom? I can't figure out who God is  trying to meet the need of today. Is it you?   Did God give me this word…? Because he gave  Elijah her word. But unless his brook dried   up she couldn't get her word. Everything  you go through isn't just about you. His brook was drying, and her son was dying.  God said, "I've got to get you there."   She's not even a follower of Yahweh.  She says, "…the LORD your God…"   "You've got this God telling you to ask  me for bread? I don't have it." Come on,   be real. Have there been some moments in your  life this week where you said, "I don't have it"? I certainly don't have it to give to you.  Maybe you said that this week. "I don't   have it." Maybe you were lying and you just  didn't want to give it. "I don't have it."   I know somebody here this week has  said that this week about patience.   "I do not have a single  nerve left for you to get on.   I would gladly invite you to get on my last nerve,  but my last nerve was gotten on three weeks ago.   So if you come on this nerve you need to know it's  already gone, so whatever happens when you try get   on this nerve, you just need to be forewarned I  don't have it. I'm out!" "In fact, you caught me   making the final arrangements because I  have just enough left." Of all the widows… Jesus mentions this woman in  Luke 4 right beside Naaman.   He says there were many widows in the time  of Elijah the prophet, but he was sent to one   and he said, "Give me some water," and  she said, "Fine…" as it was customary, but   when he asked her for bread, she'd had enough, and  she told him how it really was. "I don't have it."   In fact, translated like this, it would be like  her saying, "I swear to God I don't have it." That's what she said. "By the LORD your God, as  he lives, I don't have it." "I'm not lying to you;   I don't have it." The Lord said, "You're  going to be preaching today to some people   who are weak and weary. They don't have  their own water, and they're trying to give   water to others." Look at me preaching  a Mother's Day message after all. Trying to organize somebody else's life when you  wish somebody would come and help organize yours.   Telling them to clean up their room when you've  got a few spots you would like to get to also.   But now you've got to teach them responsibility.  You guys, you deal with your own resistance. This is the scene in Zarephath, Jezebel's  hometown, the one he would ultimately   confront. The Lord said, "I'm going to  send you to this place with your need   so you can meet a need so I can  meet your need." That's parenting.   God uses what your kids need that you don't have   to show you what he's giving you  that you don't recognize yet. All right. Are y'all ready for this? This  is what I got up to tell y'all. Honestly,   y'all need to bring a little more  energy for me to give you this point.   I've been in these arenas all week,  and they were excited to be there.   That's my son, and I feed him to support me, so…  That's how bad it's gotten. Let me teach you. The prophet was the problem,   and the problem was the prophet. They both  start with P. "Can you break it down a little   bit?" I sure can. When he said there was no  rain, that's why she was gathering sticks.   The land had stopped producing  because of the word he spoke.   In obedience to God, the word he spoke  was responsible for the problem she had. So he shows up as a prophet and as a problem.   Some of the problems that show up  in your life aren't just problems.   They are prophecies in disguise designed to  show you what you have that you don't… Now,   I remember Holly preaching on Running on Empty  last Mother's Day. It was so good. She preached   about this widow in 2 Kings 4. The woman was  in the same situation. She was desperate.   She didn't have it. She was in a bad situation.  The creditor was coming to take her kids. The prophet asked her what she had in her house,  and she said, "There's nothing there except   for a little oil." He told her to go get some  jars, and it said the jars were filled. I mean,   so many jars were filled that they ran  out of jars before they ran out of oil.   But let me show you something specific  about this miracle. Ooh, when the Lord   showed me this I had to stop and write it  down because I didn't want to forget it. It was in verse 14. When Elijah gives the  prophecy… I believe I'm prophesying to some moms,   some dads, some teenagers. I believe  I'm prophesying to some single people,   some married people. In other words, if this is  your word and you need a word from the Lord today,   I believe God has authorized  to tell you this from verse   14 from his Word. This is a word for  you. Say it, "This is a word for me." "For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel,  says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up   and the jug of oil will not run dry  until the day the LORD sends rain   on the land.'" There is a prophet who is waiting  for God to give him a word he can speak that will   open the heavens and bring the rain, bring the  repentance of a nation, bring the destruction   of the false prophets of Baal and deliver the  people to the freedom of worshiping Yahweh. There's a prophet waiting for the rain.  There's a woman waiting for the rain.   While they are both waiting, God sends a  word, and this word is for your situation,   for your children, and for your family. The jar  and the jug. He said there was going to be enough. "There is going to be enough in  the jar and enough in the jug." "Wait a minute, Elijah. Don't  you mean jars and jugs…plural?" "Nope. I said what God told me to say. There is  going to be enough in the jar and the jug. One   jar. One jug. It's not going to be 10 jars and 10  jugs. It's not going to be 100 jars and 100 jugs." He says, "As a matter of fact, it's not even  going to look like it's any more than it was   before you brought it to God, but it won't run  out." I'm praising him for all the times in my   life where it seemed like it wasn't enough  but he said, "My grace is sufficient. My   strength is made perfect in your weakness."  It was one jar and one jug. Well, watch God. What was in that jug was enough, and I came to  tell somebody you have enough in your jug to do   your job. You've got enough in your jug to raise  your family. You have enough in your jug to make   it through this trying season, this hard place.  There's enough in your jug. There's a word in   your spirit. There's a breath in your lungs.  I feel God on that. There's enough in my jug. There's enough in my jug. I don't have 15 jugs,   but I've got enough oil in one  jug that if I will use it daily…   Drop by drop by drop she ate through the  famine, fed the prophet, served God's purpose,   and saved her kids, all by understanding that God  promised to make it enough until the rain came.   God said you needed to be here today because he's  going to give you enough until it comes. Enough   until it comes. You may not feel freedom right now, but  God is going to give you enough grace   to make it until freedom comes. When we fight to  be free of things we feel like we're never going   to be free, and we think that until we feel  free God can't really use us. But God said,   "My grace is sufficient for you, and my  strength is made perfect in your weakness,   so I see what you still struggle  with." But greater is he… Do you want this word or not?  He said it will be enough   until the rain comes. He does not tell her it's  going to rain in a year, because he doesn't know   either, but they are both in the same place. The  prophet and the mom, looking at the same problem,   trusting in the same God, believing in the  same word. It was the word at the brook. It   was the word in Zarephath. It was the word when  you were 12. It is the word when you are 72. It will be the word that sustains  you, and it will be enough.   So while you wait for the rain, rejoice  in the space between, because God said,   "I'm going to give you meantime miracles while  you're waiting for the change, while you're   waiting for the maturity, while you're waiting  for it to take root." The Bible says train up a   child in the way they should go and when they are  old they won't depart from it. So how do I have   enough patience to keep from killing them until  they can get old enough to do what I taught them? God said, "My grace is sufficient,   and if you will lean on me and learn from  me and listen to me it will be enough   until it comes." All your life God has been  leading you from brooks to Sidons to Carmels,   from brooks to Sidons to Carmels, and every space  in between he has been good, and he has been God. So, as simple as it sounds, whatever you have  like the woman that isn't even enough to feed   an extra guest… Whatever strength you have,  whatever skill you have… Just so I can know,   because I need to know, because I need  to adjust my approach if I miss this bad.   Are there any moms in here who have been  feeling in the last little bit, in the last   season (I don't mean 30 years ago) that you are  not enough for the job? Just feeling like that. There are literally eight people here  who have felt like they're not enough.   So let me tell y'all what you need to know,  for the eight of y'all who feel that way.   There is enough in your jar and  your jug for you to do your job. But, there's not enough for you to do God's job.   He's the one who has to make it happen. He's  the one who has to make it work. He's the one   who has to prove himself able…not you. You're  a steward. That means you get to give it back.   I love being a pastor, because I know it's  God's church. I tell the Lord, "Here it is back.   It's COVID Lord; here it is  back." What do we do now?   I don't know what the future is 10  years from now, and neither do you,   but God said, "Until I show you what's next,  what you know will be enough until I come. If   you go worrying about tomorrow…" God cannot defend  you from a battle he did not call you to fight. If you keep waiting   for 50 more jars, if you keep waiting until  the fact… Because I'll tell you what's going to   happen. You're going to think, "When I have this  much money… When my kids get this old… When I get   this opportunity…" It still will never be enough  until you really, truly believe that he is enough. I want us to sing the words. We  sang them earlier many times, but   I want to sing them over every prophet  who God is giving a word to and every mom   who God is giving a miracle to, and I  want us to sing it over every problem   you need to bring to God today. Did  you notice what the prophet said?   He said, "Bring me some of what you have,"  when she did that it was always enough. As we wait in these spaces for answered  prayers, as we wait in these spaces   for test results, as we wait in these spaces  for situational resolve we have to know   that his word is enough until it comes. God, just like Abraham  finally got to the place and   you had a ram in the bush and he  called that place Jehovah-jireh,   we chose and decide in our hearts today to  call you Jehovah, and we call this place jireh,   that the Lord will provide. I want to pray  for somebody who has been tormented by   what they don't have. They've been  threatened by what they don't have.   They've been restless, withdrawn, and  depressed because they don't have it.   I mean, if it's a mom, if it's a dad, if it's  somebody who doesn't have kids… You see every   need, God; I don't. But whatever they thought  they were not when they came in here today   is just a space for you to show off who you are.  We talk tough, and we say these things, God,   but we need to live like that: to  bring you the little that we have   and watch it become more than enough  in the hands of Jehovah-jireh. Just like you did when I started, I want  you to cup your hands toward heaven,   like if you had a father who knew how to feed you,  like if he would send birds to drop food for you,   like if he would send Elijah to your doorstep as  you were gathering sticks to feed your family. I want you to take a moment and silence all  of those voices that have been telling you,   "Look at you. You're not smart enough to raise  that daughter; you can't even help her with her   math homework. Look at you. You're not tough  enough to raise that boy; you don't even have   a man around the house." For everything you're not  you are a candidate for revelation of who God is.   After all, when God gave his name to Moses he  chose to self-identify as "I AM." That leaves all   the space in the world for any need you will ever  have, and I believe God is calling some people   away from dry places of self-dependence. I believe  God is calling into their next assignment today. Your jar, your jug… It's more than enough. If  your jar needed to be bigger, or if your jug   needed to be wider he would have  bigger or wider, but he put you there.   You are the one he chose. It's going  to be all right. God's got tomorrow,   and it's going to be all right. God's got  your babies, and it's going to be all right,   for the jar of flour will not run dry, and  neither will the jug of oil until the day   the Lord sends rain. I know you're waiting  on rain, you're waiting on some things,   but God said it's going to be enough until it  comes. He's going to send you everything you need,   but until it comes God is no less enough. thank you for watching the elevation  church youtube channel don't stop here   join the e-fam our online extended family  and join us live every sunday subscribe to   this channel so you don't miss a single video  or live stream and share this with a friend you   can also support the ministry by clicking the  give now button to help us continue to reach   people around the world for jesus christ  thank you again for watching god bless you
Info
Channel: Elevation Church
Views: 408,351
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: elevation church, steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, elevation church sermons, 2022 sermons, pastor steven furtick, preaching, enough until it comes, provison, direction, need, promise, waiting, knowledge, sustaining, hearing god’s voice, struggles, unawswered prayers, enough, next, patience, prophet, problem, mom, mother’s day, parenthood, redirection, next steps, timing, taking action, sufficient, grace, faith, jireh, you are enough, sermons about provision, sermons about direction
Id: br682KJfCsU
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 55min 12sec (3312 seconds)
Published: Sun May 08 2022
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.