Frozen Oil and Chosen Vessels | Pastor Steven Furtick

the Lord put it on my heart to share from this  passage and this thought with you and I want to   speak to you today from second Kings 4 1 through  6 and really I want to speak to someone who is   in a deficit in an area of your life the more I  become exposed to I'm convinced there are many   different varieties of poverty and so you can  be rich financially and broke emotionally you   can be rich financially and broke relationally  you can have a lot of responsibility and not a   lot of joy or you can have a lot of joy and not  a lot of influence and so I learned that poverty   although we tend to associate it with finances  can can be a poverty of a different kind and   that really helped me when I was first started  preaching I thought and I was telling Mike this   this morning right before I came out to preach how  you know some people come to church and take the   bus and some people come in a bitly in the same  church and so you kind of feel on the surface   like well maybe you can't preach the same message  to the person who is in the top tax bracket and   maybe the person who hasn't had a job for for  two and a half years but you learn over time if   you pastor people and pay attention that everybody  has a deficiency and we're not all that different   the reason I like this text from second Kings  for is because it it seems like a small little   practical I don't know almost incidental miracle  on the surface but understanding the surrounding   context in the life of the Prophet Elisha he just  finished solving a problem for three kings and   right after this he he performs a great miracle  for a very wealthy woman and sandwiched between   those two magnificent miracles on a grand scale  where he's consulting political advisors like a   real profit would and where he's hanging out  with a top donor there's something that happens   that seems so small on the surface and and that's  where my assignment is today in second Kings for   one through six and I hope to be able to preach  it to you on a very personal level so let's read   the text together and discuss it a bit the wife  of a man from the company of the prophets cried   out to Elisha your servant my husband is dead  and you know that he revered the Lord sometimes   we find ourselves in situations that are not the  result of our disobedience and have you noticed   that life doesn't make allowances for your crisis  that the universe doesn't send out a memo when   you're having a bad day hey everybody be nice to  her today her mom has said it it would be nice   if life's demands would accommodate my crisis  but they don't and so the bills were still do   although the woman did not have the means and so  this creates a sense of deficit a very desperate   deficit in her life as it turns out and this  crisis is not a national crisis it's a personal   crisis but the man of God takes time for one woman  just like he took time for three kings I love that   that just touches my heart so much because he's  not just presiding over a royal wedding across   the pond somewhere but he's right up in your  life while you're crying at night and while   you're trying to figure out how to build your own  relationships God is into that touch somebody say   God is into you so she comes with this need  probably seems small in the scope of a big   bad important prophet who's commanding kings but  she comes to him boldly and says 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 so it sounds like he's about to get the   checkbook out but then he makes this weird move  where he answers his question with the question   tell me what do you have in your house she said  back your servant has nothing there at all that's   why I'm coming to you if I had something to put on  eBay I would have done it by now do I need to back   up and take it from the top I told you nothing  except a small jar of olive oil and Elijah said   go around and ask all your neighbors for empty  jars this dude can't hear he's good at talking   but he can't hear I don't need jars I need oil I'm  broke I don't need something to put nothing in or   do you see in the beginning when God created  the world it was without form and void and the   first thing that God did was to form it before he  filled it I'm gonna keep reading this tough bible   passage because we only have so long go around  asking 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 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 they brought the jars to her she kept pouring  when all the jars were full she said to her son   bring me another one but he replied there's not  a jar left then the oil stopped flowing and the   the gravitas of that last verses such we got to  read it in the King James King James Bible like   the one your grandmother had that big one I will  put it on this big screen for you the King James   Version of that verse and I'm gonna take my  title from this one verse it came to pass when   the vessels were full that she said unto her son  bring me yet a vessel and he said unto her there   is not a vessel more and the oil stayed I want to  speak today for a few moments about frozen oil and   chosen vessels so if there are many varieties of  poverty and if the abundance of our life really   consists in the flow you know like Jesus said  that from your belly will flow rivers of living   water or like it says in Proverbs that from your  heart flows the issues of life so you got to guard   it it is instructive that elijah the prophet in  performing his first miracle cut off the flow   of the Jordan River first thing he did when he  became the Prophet was to grab the mantle that   fell off of Elijah who by the way he was he was  known for giving strange commands as well when   he called the false prophets up to Mount Carmel  you can read about this in first Kings 1819 it's   amazing because the people were in a drought and  he said whichever God answers by fire is the true   God because he was challenging their idolatry  and when he got up there on the mountain before   he called down fire he made them pour water on the  wood because sometimes God will make a situation   seem impossible to men so that when fire falls  and the wood starts to burn you won't think it   was because of the quality of the firewood but it  is because of the power of God now if you got wet   wood in your life today start rejoicing right now  because God is setting you up to do something so   special and he wants all the credit he wants all  the credit he wants all the credits so he allows   this woman to get down to seemingly nothing  do you notice that her first instinct when the   Prophet says what do you have in your house is  to say nothing her first her first instinct is   to minimize what little she has left now I can't  prove this it's not in the text but just imagine   with me and maybe I don't know you know prophets  are weird maybe Elijah asked her that question   and when she started to answer maybe he made eye  contact with her you know awkward eye contact you   got anybody in your life who has really low  relational skills people have no concept of   personal space you got any close talkers in your  life let me see if you got any close talkers in   your life you know some people just look at you  a little too long and a little too hard like eye   contact us good but it can't come to a point  where it's a little awkward I can see you're a   little sleepy right now look at your neighbor look  at him so hard in their eyes that they feel what   I'm talking about I want you to make eye contact  come on staring contest all over the church you   too Rolly awkward eye contact so look at him while  I talk she says nothing and he likes to just Waits somebody say nothing ask the person next to  you really nothing because sometimes we get so   overwhelmed by our scarcity that we minimize our  supply one of my friends was complaining so hard   the other day I thought he had me confused with a  professional counselor and after a few minutes I   was tired of it and I'm I can listen for a minute  but he would not shut up and finally I said bro   do you have anything going good for you right now  and he said no nothing I said really nothing not   eyelids let me see your hands you walked in this  room you woke up this morning that's not nothing   huh that's not nothing so the first thing that I  see in the miracle is Elijah instructs this woman   who is at a deficit to check our oil and I want to  preach to you today check your oil it is possible   that you are overlooking the very thing that God  wants to perform a miracle through when you've   lived in a deficit long enough it can be difficult  to appreciate the supply that you have especially   when you've lost a lot she's lost a husband she  spent almost everything she's got one little jar   of oil in her freezer I know it's not a freezer  but you know go with it it goes with my title   frozen oil and she's got a little bit of oil just  a little bit of oil and it's so little in fact the   oil is is so small that she doesn't even think  it's worth mentioning okay I'll say God is about   to do a miracle through something that you don't  even think is worth mentioning something so small   and insignificant in your sight that your first  instinct is to not even mention it but the enemy   wants you to despise your oil because he can't  steal your oil oil in the Bible is symbolic of   the Holy Spirit when they would anoint a king in  the Bible they would anoint the King with oil it   represented God's empowerment it represents  joy and gladness it's symbolic of the Holy   Spirit that came on the day of Pentecost to live  inside of us and so when I preach about oil I'm   not talking about something that you keep in your  pantry I'm talking about something that you have   in your heart the gift God gave you the people God  put in your life the idea God gave you the time he   gave you the season you're in if I were your enemy  and I knew I couldn't take your oil what I would   do instead is to get you to think that your oil  was so little that it wasn't even worth using and   that's why some people sit in church week after  week after week after month after month after   month after year after year and stay in their  deficiency and never realized that what you've   got is something somebody shout it's not nothing  it's not nothing feeling in my spirit today it's   not nothing somebody shot my gift it's something  my life is something my praise is something not   high-five somebody say I got something how about  you for too long I've been comparing my oil with   yours my all might not be as much as yours  but God won't hold me a callable for your oil we learned this from Elijah go look and see if you  see anything in the sky and the servant came back   nothing go look again nothing go look again  nothing go look again nothing go look again   nothing go look again nothing this is getting  really old Steve can you just get to the point   how old would it get if you were the one running  to the top of the hill to look at nothing and   then finally by the time you do see something  is so small you you you minimize it there's a   cloud somebody shot there's a cloud the size of  a man's hand see it's not the size of the cloud   that determines the size of the blessing it's not  the amount of the oil it's not how smart I am how   well-educated I am it's not even my estimation  of myself if God calls me and chooses me nothing   on earth shall be able to stop me shout if  you believe that in the back of the room check your oil might not be much but it's not  nothing it's not nothing and I think it's harder   than ever to feel okay about our oil because we  got we got too many ways to check other people's   oil whether it's their vacation cuz that's about  to start you know where everybody's posting the   happiest moments of their vacation this summer and  it's gonna make you feel like a crappy parent and   it's gonna make you question your oil cuz they're  gonna all be smiling in the picture now let me   tell you something that happened right before the  picture it was almost a divorce those kids almost   went up for adoption but they can't put that  on the ground so somebody say enjoy your oil so I'll tell you what the devil is doing  he can't take your gift he can't take your   calling the gifts and calling of God are without  repentance God doesn't change his mind about what   he gave you if he can get you to think it's so  little that you don't use it he can starve you   I realized that God gave me a ministry the devil  can't take the ministry that God gave me but if I   give up my joy then I will forfeit my ministry  if I give up my joy I will forfeit my marriage   the devil can't take my marriage but if he can  get me to despise my oil-like to make me think   I'm not a very good husband or I don't have what  it takes to be a dad then I'll say it's nothing   when it's really something notice by the end of  this passage this woman has a house full of oil   it was it was not until she poured the oil that it  became more and when you feel poor you don't pour   because you hold on to what you have so when you  feel like a poor parent it keeps you from wanting   to try talk to me and I can go from here to here  real quick as a parent real really quick as a   parent you look so perfected right now I can't  figure out where one real person in this whole   church is that will say that even if you figure  out how to change diapers they stop wearing them   doesn't work anymore so like there there are  things about me and things about you that that   make us feel insecure and make us say you know  it's nothing when it's really something but it   seems small it seems small and it's overshadowed  by by something that seems when the need seems so   big compared to the supply you call it nothing and  you don't use it and so it doesn't multiply you   send the crowds away so they can get something  to eat and you give away the opportunities God   gave you coz it's nothing what what you have  is nothing that the need the need is great   and my marriage just hit a 16-year milestone we  celebrated six seniors of Marriott I love when I   do that because there's always people that have  been 40 years and they look at me like what I   think is significant I took Holly to oak steak  house we we dined together let me tell you how   good the date was the date was so good when we  got home the babysitter was texting us that the   fire alarm was going off in the house it was  a storm in Charlotte that night and something   tripped the smoke alarm Abby's freaking out on  the porch and I had other plans for post-date so I'm driving fast down the driveway right can  I talk to y'all but the kids are on the porch   and the fire alarms going off in the house and  it's not a fire and it's if the alarm system is   bugging out and she already tried to take the  battery out so Abby is freaking out and I'm   holding her cuz she's seven and when I grabbed  her she stopped crying and I felt like the dad   of the decade because I knew what to do I knew  if I started singing Hamilton from the Hamilton   soundtrack that Abby would stop crying and  it worked and and she stopped crying and I   felt like the man for about five minutes until  we had to call the fire department not to put   out a fire but to turn off the alarm what made  it worse was when they got there when only the   brave showed up at my house they're walking down  the driveway the nicest firefighters you would   ever want to see less here for the firefighters  these men come walking down the driveway and my   wife is the one in the house trying to fix  the detectors because I don't know what to   do and I'm holding a bee and five minutes ago I  was the man and here come the firefighters and   they're looking at me like really dude and  I can tell that the one that that's coming   in first goes to the church he didn't say it  but he had that look in his eyes like you're   my pastor and I'm ashamed of you you're much  bigger on the screen what kind of man are you so I I didn't make eye contact us just thank  them for their service and they got it off in   there there was no carbon monoxide and we're live  to tell about it in there funny how I was the man   one minute but then now you gotta understand it's  little stuff it's not always some big shame that   the enemy brings to make you feel this is where  I always got it wrong I thought that you had to   go through something sexual that that caused you  this this great traumatic shame to keep you from   really trusting God or I thought maybe you had to  go through a season of your life you know eight   years in prison or something like that and then  you would live with regrets but I found out it is   the seemingly insignificant insecurities that  make you feel like I'm not a real man I'm not   a real mom now I'm yelling at my daughter just  like my mom yelled at me and I'm just repeating   the cycle and it causes you to despise your oil  and that's exactly what the enemy wants us to   use a small little thing to get you to miss  your miracle because your miracle is hidden   in what you've been overlooking and the reason  you've been overlooking it is because it seems   so small to you and the reason it seems small  to you is because you are insecure about what   you're not so heal your work on you until you  call it nothing what do you have to be grateful   for nothing really nothing what are you good at  nothing we're gonna round the table the other   day and I asked a group of people what are you  really great at and it took us all a long time   to answer I wonder why that is cuz we're so  humble or because the enemy has messed with us   so much now because we're all on the verge of 40  and we've gotten so familiar with our deficiency when you when you've lived in a deficit for a  long time it overshadows the oil that you do have   he wants you to despise you're all he wants you to  despise the season of life that you're in he wants   you to be thinking about how much time you used  to have back before or how much time you're gonna   have when meanwhile the question of the Prophet is  not what do you wish you had in your house what do   you have left because that's what God is going  to bless what you have left God is gonna bless   what he gave you you are his chosen vessel and the  oil you have is the oil you need and the strengths   you have are the strengths you need and the  experiences that you've had are the experiences   that you need but notice this the oil only flows  when it is poured you can pray over it you can   cry over it you can wish for it but until you pour  it it will stay one small jar if the enemy can't   take your oil he will try to get you to stop  pouring and some of you have stopped pouring   you got your heart broken you poured your love  into your last relationship and it didn't work   out and they left you and they hurt you and they  turned away from you so you stopped pouring and   when you stop pouring it stops flowing you used to  encourage people and then you got discouraged and   you stopped encouraging but God told me to tell  you keep on pouring cuz some more you pour the   more it's gonna flow I feel like preaching till  somebody break into somebody pours out the praise   you've got now we tend to think I'll pour more  when I get more but the way it works in the order   of God is it becomes more as it is poured isn't  it just like God to command you to pour something   that you don't feel like you have enough of  strange instruction I don't have much poured out it's the weirdest strategy in the world  but I'll tell you I think this stuff works   I think as you pour it out it becomes more  really I'm convinced of it cuz I tried that   thing where you feel sorry for yourself  when you're discouraged I tried the other   thing where I encouraged somebody else when I  felt discouraged the first one took me deeper   into my deficit and my discouragement the  second one it's the weirdest thing because   I didn't feel like I had it to give  I wanted somebody to encourage me and   bitterness will keep you from pouring what  you have while you wait for what you want and so then you stay poor you you stay frustrated  you stay stuck you stay in bitterness I wonder   what's the woman a little disappointed that  the Prophet told her to pour something it's   frustrating when you have to pour into someone  else when you really wish someone would pour   into you yet the more you pour the more it flows  I'm just telling you what to do the next time I   know you haven't had any struggles in the last  seven years but in case you go through something   this year the more you pour the more it flows the  more you pour the more it flows you're getting it   over here and so the devil so crafty that that  he will put you in a state where you'll tell   yourself nobody appreciates me so you'll stop  giving yourself and it will it will reinforce   that self-fulfilling prophecy nobody appreciates  me they won't appreciate you because you'll stop   pouring and they'll no longer have anything to  appreciate about you that's that's why Holly   said the other day they don't they don't  even care what I cook she's about the kids   she said they only want the noodles she made this  meal she made this meal and if you're considering   marrying you know in in this age that we live in  right now there's a lot of things that can attract   you to a person I appreciate many qualities  about my wife I appreciate the fact that she   has excelled to the point where she now can I  tell you something she grows her own Swiss chard do you know how bougie that is so now here's  some homegrown Swiss chard and some chicken   and when the kids went back for seconds she  said they don't care about the chicken they   don't care about the homegrown Swiss chard they  just want the noodles that dollar twenty-nine   box of noodles they would be happy with just the  noodles I said girl I know exactly how you feel I   feel that way sometimes when I'm preaching  the devil will tell me that you know they   really don't care they're not gonna remember  this sermon it's the craziest thing I'll get   into self-pity and it's like you know they don't  appreciate my my Swiss chard my scriptural Swiss   chard my biblical chicken but I looked at her  I said girl if you don't cook it for anybody   else keep cooking the chicken for me it's not  even about those little brats let them eat the   noodles give me the chicken I want the Swiss star  now you gotta have this sense in your life servant   of God that I'm not doing it for them because  sometimes you will pour into people and they   won't say a word but they're not your source I  said they're not your source I might be pouring   into people but I'm pouring for the Lord so  I can keep pouring if you appreciate me I can   keep pouring if you don't I can keep pouring  if you stay I can keep pouring if you walk out Who am I helping make some noise Swiss chard  Tricia I'm so grateful I'm so grateful that God   kept pouring into me when I seemed unprofitable  and so I got to keep pouring it said that she   kept pouring I wonder how stupid she fell when  she first started pouring now once it starts   working it was probably kind of fun and I will  point out one thing that I thought was kind of   funny we were talking about this JJ weren't  we how Elijah told her in verse three give me   the verse go around and ask all your neighbors  for empty jars and and this in a in verse five   it says she left him and shut the door behind her  and her sons they brought the jars to her she made   her kids go to the neighbors you heard what the  man said one more thing I want to point out and   it's what enabled her to pour she shut the doors  and that's such an important detail in this text   because it is what you pour out in private when no  one is looking and a lot of us are so busy praying   for more oil more opportunity more more more more  MORE and God says pour pour pour pour more and   the more you pour the more it flows you're never  gonna pour out what you have while you're so busy   consulting what everybody else has you'd be like  the woman you'd be like the woman who came in and   poured out that expensive fragment fragrance on  the feet of Jesus in all the men around called it   a waste and she called it worship because you're  always you're always you're always gonna feel like   it's not enough and even if you feel like it  is enough you feel like it doesn't matter have   you had a day like that in the last seven where  you felt like this doesn't even matter shut the   door and keep pouring in fact sometimes the best  thing to do is shut your mouth and keep pouring and keep pouring because the oil only became more  when it was in motion and the oil only flowed when   the vessels were ready I don't think this message  is really about the oil at all I think it's about   the vessels because when Elijah told her to  go around to her neighbours he gave her a very   specific type a vessel to request he said make  sure they're empty make sure they're empty God   can't fill what's already full that's why it's so  important that you pour out your pride that's why   it's so important that we pour out our our own  opinions and come before the Lord empty because   listen when the vessels are ready the oil will  flow and there's something strange about these   vessels that we only learn with a New Testament  revelation this is 2nd Kings 4 but if you jump a   couple of centuries over to 2nd Corinthians 4 you  get the full message where Paul says we have this   treasure in earthen vessels why would God put  something so special in such a cracked vessel   what keeps you from showing up is your cracks and  your conflicts but that is the very place that   the blessing flows through Paul said we have this  treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of   the power might be from God not from us one season  in our church that I was feeling particularly   overwhelmed I said to Holly I just don't feel  like I'm the pastor that they need it the reason   I said it is because the need was so great and my  experience was so small at this particular point I   had just turned 30 and the church was already  about the same size as the town I grew up in that'll make you stop and pause  that'll make you feel like not   enough if you ever felt like not enough  wave at me I don't like to do this alone   it's a very vulnerable feeling yeah I  said I don't feel like I'm the pastor   that they need she looked back at me cold  blooded and said you're the one we've got y'all are clapping at me but I'm saying it to you  you're the mom they got you're the dad they got   you're the son they've got you're the daughter  they've got you're the one God chose you are   his chosen vessel and he chose you not in spite of  your cracks but because of them that ensures that   people will not complement the vessel they will  value the oil it is what God put inside of you but you've got a poured out I want to pray for you  today stand to your feet because I want to pray   for you in this moment if you've been in a deficit  emotionally spiritually relationally financially   deficits come in many different varieties but if  you are that empty vessel today and you come to   the end of yourself I got good news for you that's  the starting place for God's supply to be poured   out in your life and my God shall supply all of  your needs according to his glory not according   to your quantity of oil but according to his  glorious riches I have preached this message   today with the hopes that in this moment you would  see yourself as a vessel that God is ready to fill   when the vessels are ready the oil will flow and  it's good when you feel empty it's good when you   feel like you're not enough it's good when you  know your need because then you remember your   source right now in this moment I want to ask  that everybody who needs a touch from God today   in an area of your life where you've been feeling  deficient I want to ask that you just close your   eyes lift your hands to heaven and forget about  all the people around you let's shut the door   for a moment let's come before God in honesty and  sincerity like this woman did with the Prophet she   knew where to go first she took her needs to the  man of God she didn't run around from neighbor to   neighbor to neighbor like we tend to do sometimes  she went to God first if we seek first his kingdom   and his righteousness all these things will be  added to us but if we run around if we don't   open our hearts before him we will die for the  lack of what he has already provided there is oil   in your house there is a reason to be grateful  there is a strength in this season of your life and fathered today with our hands lifted up with  our hearts open with our minds renewed we thank   you for the oil we have somebody say thank you  Lord for my oil God we're sorry for complaining   about the oil that we lost or we're sorry for  comparing our oil supply to others we come to   you today in humility of spirit declaring that  what you have given is all that you require we   thank you for the gift of your grace in our  lives we thank you for your mercy in this   moment we thank you for your enabling power  your anointing for this season of our lives   that where we are is where we're supposed to be  it's by design God we determine in our hearts in   this moment not to become bitter about what  we've poured out that we didn't receive a   return on we declare that you are the source  of our strength and you are the strength of   our lives and so we lift our eyes to the hills  our help comes from you our joy comes from you   and you are more than enough to meet every need  father we lift our eyes to heaven today would   you fill our cups to the top we thank you that  goodness and mercy flow over our cup overflows   you are with us in this moment we declare that  your presence is more than enough your word is   more than enough spirit of God fall fresh on  your people now a fresh outpouring of fresh   anointing may they receive it in the power of  your great name Jesus hey thanks for watching   the elevation church youtube channel if you  enjoyed this message take a minute click the   subscribe button on your screen that way you  won't miss a single video and if this ministry   has impacted you and you'd like to partner with  us to continue to reach others you can click the   link in the description below to give now thanks  again for watching and don't forget to subscribe

Channel: Elevation Church

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Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor Steven Furtick, The Elevation Church, steven furtick, elevation church steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, are you operating out of deficiency, frozen oil and chosen vessels, steven furtick 2018, furtick steven, flow, deficiency, bible, gospel, faith, Jesus, elevation church steven furtick sermons, elevation church sermons 2018, pastor steven furtick sermons, pastor steven furtick 2018, steven furtick 2018 youtube

Id: KEA44RPX8_E

Length: 40min 22sec (2422 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 04 2018