God Can Make Your Situation Right - 2 Kings 4: 1-7

so the title of the sermon today is God can make your situation right all right let's just think about that title as we get into God's Word we are going to be looking at 2nd Kings for 1 to 7 so 2nd Kings chapter 4 1 to 7 if you have your Bibles you can pull them out or your phones this is okay for those of you are sitting on this side you can see all right good I'm just gonna ask if someone can help me with PowerPoint that would be greatly appreciated this is what the Word of God says 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 but now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves Elisha replied to her how can I help you tell me what you have do you have in your house your servant has nothing there at all she said except a little oil Elisha said go around and ask 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 one aside she left him and afterwards shut the door behind her and her sons they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring wood all the jurors 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 she went and told the man of God and he said go sell the oil pay your debts you you and your sons can live on what is left amen let's pray Heavenly Father thank you for this story thank you God for the people in the Bible as we think about the people that lived before us and these stories these are not just stories that people penned because they had some great imagination these are real stories of people's lives and we thank you Lord that we have the privilege to learn and to hear from you today I do pray that today as we look into your word that the the information that the words that come out of my mouth will be from you Lord and that the Holy Spirit will guide each one of us and as the title has said this the the title of the sermon is God can make it right whatever we are going through today it is not too hard for God and it is not too great of a problem for our God knows and our God will answer we thank you in the name of Jesus that you are present and you are good and you are gracious in Jesus name Amen a bit a bit of history in this situation as we read this story during this time that in this story you have a man named Elijah who was a prophet and we have the people of God who were the Israelites and unfortunately during that time the people were worshipping the Bale God and the bill who is bill bill was basically the Canaanite religion and it's they believe that the Bale God came to fertilize the ground and when there was a drought they believe that things were not going well with the Bale God but when things were going well things were when the land produced fruit or produce than there was things were going right but the problem here is as we think about this is that the people of God were not supposed to worship the Bale God because the true and living God is Yahweh and the Lord and so we had prophets like Obadiah Elijah and in this story Elijah who did their best as I do every Sunday to remind the people that we need to worship God and not to worship other things and that we have a covenant with the Lord and yet they had this covenant with God and they were still worshiping the Bell gods why they were doing this is because they thought they could worship Yahweh which is the true and living God and worship BHEL God which is what we call syncretism syncretism and God calls us not to do that as we worship with him the Lord does not want us to live confused he does not want us to have idols in our life like the Israelites did they worshiped Yahweh they worship Bale and so in the in our own life as well God is saying to each one of us today as we think about the word that he does not want us to be tempted to worship the idols in our life which could be the idol of money the idol of security the idol of beauty or the idol of Fame that we must recognize that there is one God and that he is a true and living God and he's the same yesterday today and forever more he made the Sun he made the moon he made the stars and he's the one that came and died for our sins and so we cannot confuse ourselves and support the world in worshipping idols and other gods when we had this amazing God who hears and answers our prayers amen and he listens and he responds and he's the one that has us go from death to life darkness to light and without him we would be nothing amen and the Word of God says for who is God besides the Loren who is our rock except our God and so our God is amazing and he is entitled to praise entitled to worship and that we need to worship Him alone amen and so the widow in this passage was married to the Prophet Obadiah and unfortunately Obadiah passed away and he worshiped God as well and so she's a woman whose husband is dead and now her and her children are in danger of being taken for slavery and so this is number one today in your notes if we go to the next slide the next slide is number one people who love God will go through trouble in life all right unfortunately as we think about this story she served God and so did her husband and you would expect because they served the Lord that things would be good and easy for them but sometimes in life you will still have to deal with hard things right unfortunately even as Christians we have to deal with the fact that loved ones died we could lose our job we have to deal with sickness we have to deal with heartbreak loss of a child or not having a child natural disasters being a follower of God does not mean we are exempt from trouble what kind of trouble are you going through right now even though you've been faithful to the Lord even though you have given you have served you have loved you have shared the gospel you will experience trouble in life still she's a woman in great need she has a debt and when you're in great need what are some things that you do when you are in a situation or a problem of course some of us we probably pray to God some of us fast some of us are seeking the Lord there's so many things we can do or we can do the opposite which is like do get into substance abuse or drown in our pain but I want you to watch in this story what she does and this is a the next uh if we go to the verse first actually it says the wife of a man for the company of your prophets cried out to Elisha 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 and this is number two today as we think about God's Word cry out to the people in your life about your life situation now there's a time and place for everything I'm not saying for every problem that you have you need to tell somebody and you need to cry out to people and to ask for favors and ask for answers first and foremost we should always cry out to God alright that's your first thing you get on your knees and you get get on near your bed or your room and your closet you need to pray to the Lord all right that's what needs to happen but sometimes when you're in a desperate hurting and painful situation you need to tell someone and in this case this woman was in a very painful situation and she made a choice to tell Elijah now is there someone you need to tell about your painful situation do you have people in your life that you would say this is my Elijah in my life that I can cry out to you or call maybe you need to tell someone about your personal situation you know maybe your pastor your friend a parent a child whatever there are going to be times in your life that you and I need to reach out to the Elijah's in our life amen actually this happened to me just yesterday on Saturday morning 9:30 I got a call from one of my friends and I thought if it's 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday I know that this is something that is serious and in fact as we talked it was very serious and she did want a sounding board some wisdom or godly counsel and so she talked to me and explained to me her situation and I was able to tell her what I thought based on the information she gave me and I became her Elijah in that moment today as you think about your life and what you're going through who is the Elijah in your life and are you in a live shut to someone else because you don't want to just take from people you want to give it as well amen and we have to make sure that we don't have a prideful attitude that you know we can't share with other people trusted people in our life the things that are going on in our life right so we need to lower our pride humble ourselves and I mean if you're desperate we need to go to people and to God and ask for direction amen so when Elijah hears her problem he does two things and this is verse 2 and though in the word it says he says how can I help you tell me what do you have in your house and so this is number three today as we think about God's work number three is ask the person how you can help amen very simple this is so practical when you're dealing with somebody that's going through a problem and they're pouring out their heart to you and and sometimes we just sit there and we don't say anything you know that's a good time to say nothing at all is when someone's gone through the death of a loved one it's always good to just sit there and be present many times I go to the hospital and the situation is getting worse the best thing I can do for is a pastor is to sit there and be present or sit there and pray and intercede sometimes we have to close our mouth and not say anything amen but other times we should open our mouth and say this to our family or friend how can I help you very simple how can I help for example if someone's dealing with the loss of a loved one you say how can I help and they might say can you pray for me can you make a meal for me you can do those things amen someone has a health problem you may need to say how can I help and they'll say you know what I need help with driving to my appointments can you help me there are so many ways you can help people and you know what if you see somebody in trouble just help them you don't need to always even ask a question just help look let me give you an example a couple of weeks ago I was at the hospital I came and I picked up the phone to locate where bob was this was at the Scarborough General Hospital and while I was waiting for the Opera for the operator to pick up the phone the parking machine was right beside me and I noticed the lady beside me was having trouble with the parking machine so I'm on the phone and waiting for the operator pick up and I noticed she's putting her $5 in and the machine keeps spitting it out so she did this like three four times finally the operator picked up I said I need to know where Robert cook is he gave me the information I have so I said to her well what's going on with the Machine and she's like I don't know she's like my $5 is good what why won't they take it right and her bill is five dollars so then I'm like maybe we're maybe you're putting it the wrong way you know how these machines are sensitive you got to flip the head the other way and all this stuff right just like your credit card so we did it like always and it still wouldn't take her $5.00 I'm like this is so weird so I had $10 in my purse that day I knew and I don't normally carry cash but I had cash that day and so I said to her let me see if they'll take my ten right and I already said to myself I don't really care about her paying me back I just want her to be on her way so we're already stressful enough to go to the hospital because you're dealing with your own health problems or the health problems of a loved one let me be a blessing to this lady right so I take out my 10 I put the 10 in and it's good they take it right and she's like I don't understand like I don't know either and she's like well she's like and then it gave us five dollars back isn't that weird it gave us five dollars back but it wouldn't take her five so she takes the ten in her head she takes the five in her hand and the five that spit out and she gives it to me and I was like wait is this right she's like yes you put ten dollars in I owe you ten right and I said oh yeah okay sure and then she's like thank you so much and she was on her way and then I went to go visit Bob see very simple you know just keep your eyes open its life is not about you okay life is about blessing other people amen too many people are just drowning in their pain drowning in their trouble and there's people out there who actually need help and I just wanted to have us be a small blessing to this lady very simple another example I will at the mall having a snack and the two men beside me were having their Tim Hortons coffee they're laughing they're chatting they're everything's going fine until one man picked up his coffee and his hand slipped coffee was everywhere coffee on the table coffee on the ground and the ladies beside them was looking and was just like what in the world just happened right and you know some of you had done this before you've you know you've dropped your coffee where you dropped your tea on your clothes and so was everywhere and they're scrambling to wipe with those few napkins that they had and I'm sitting there watching all of this drama and I'm thinking aren't thinking I get up and go get more napkins none of them did that I think they were just too preoccupied so I had Kleenex in my bag you know everything's in my bag right I had Kleenex in my bag took out my Kleenex little container thing I have and I took out two gave it to them and they were shocked they're like what in the world I'm like here you go and they took it because one of them all the coffee spelled all on his glasses and so you know they were shocked but they needed it and so I gave it to them simple blessings and it was on my way amen it's so simple every situation is different but let us be sensitive and mature to what's going on around us how can you help you see somebody on the road that's struggling stop if you can do so and if that's safe to do for ladies we'll have to exercise judgment there you see someone struggling at the restaurant help them the door open the door for people with you know especially parents with children that is a big help be a blessing all those small blessings you do God will bless you in return right it's all about being faithful in the small and so the widow the widow here's how the widow responds to Elijah this is what the next verse says your servant has nothing there at all because he said to her you know how can I help and what do you have and she says your servant has nothing there at all except a little oil and I want to remind you that as you think about God's word people who are in pain who are discouraged depressed or wounded many times when you ask them things they are not going to be very positive they're not gonna see the light because they're going through so much trauma all right just keep that in mind in fact they'll be they'll have a tendency to be very negative than positive and here's why because their mind is clouded by the trauma or the hurt or the pain they're going through but if you and I are going to help someone in need sometimes we need to point out to our loved one or our family or friend that even though life is not going well that there are still things that they have that God can use Elijah asked what do you have and she's like I have nothing except some oil and what she saw was nothing Elijah saw as an opportunity and when you're dealing with someone like a widow is a big problem your job is to point to that person that there nothing is something that there nothing can be an opportunity and that there nothing can be the answer to their prayers and so this is number four today despite the bad situation a person is in point out what is good in their life this is very important today you know you I'm sure all of you have family and friends that there's they're just negative like they're they're going through problems but they act like they're the only one going through a problem right you don't know those people don't look don't look to the person beside you these folks exaggerate their problems I mean it's a problem but seriously sometimes like when I talk to people I'm like do you really think you're the only one going through problems you know the difference is each of us handle or cope with situations differently like I'm the only one going through a marriage problem or I'm the only one going through kids problem or I'm the only one going through a work problem you know what everybody is going through problems and so we need to think about that but here's your role today as Elijah Elijah Wood is going to do you need to tell that person or persons in your life okay you are going through this problem but you have some good things going on in your life for example you don't have a job but you have your health you don't have any kids but you're married your spouse is not alive but at least when they were alive you had this amazing marriage or you don't have your help but you have peace with your parents your kids your siblings you're single but you're financially stable sometimes we need to look again at our context and look at what you have rather than what you don't have because when we say what we say is nothing is actually something and what we gloss over as she's did I only have a little oil is actually an opportunity for something God is going to do in your life we have to take a look at our context again and be very careful we are not to compare ourselves to other people to determine if you are going to be happy or not the Bible says the joy of the Lord is my strength and delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart if you put your joy and your love and your and your life in God you will be blessed but if you're watching for things in life and watching for people to love you you know what you're gonna be disappointed and if not you already are so what are some things that are going well in your life that we have said are nothing just yesterday I was talking to somebody I said you know what you sound like you're grumbling right you're complaining and you know what happens when you grumble complain God will not let you forget about that there's a lot of examples in the Bible where these let's complain and the Lord was not happy with that so be careful that you are not grumbling and complaining when you have some good things going on in your life amen so here's what Elijah said he says in verse 3 go around ask all your neighbors for empty jars don't just ask for a few then go inside shut the door behind you and your sons pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled put it to one side amen and so he says go to all your neighbors knock on the doors ask for the jars and in other words he says be bold and then go home shut the door you and your sons begin to fill the jars Amen number five when God provides a solution for you have faith and follow through amen how did Elijah know to tell this Widow to go get these jars and other people was this like creative thinking and so forth you know we don't know the Word of God doesn't tell us exactly it doesn't say the spirit prompted or God told him but as a man of God who was a prophet for the Lord I believe that God spoke to him and gave him insight and when you are facing obstacles or problems or a situation that's overwhelming you listen to what God is telling you to do in that situation and then if you're not sure like my friend did yesterday she called me called somebody who you feel has wisdom and godly counsel and say what would you do in this situation all right you have resources all around you amen when you are desperate in a desperate situation faith means believing that God is going to come through amen don't let people tell you what you can and cannot do tell them what you can do because you have God because with God all things are possible Elijah said go collect the jars what about you what is God asking you to do and what God's gonna ask you to do will be different from the person beside you and the person down your role and the person at your workplace you got to listen and hear from God and say Lord what do you want me to do in this situation maybe this morning God is saying to you I want you to be bold and apply for that job you think you're not qualified for maybe God is saying you know what I want you to start this ministry in the church or I want you to start this business or I want you to save your money I want you to donate to somebody whatever God is asking you to do do it and do not make up ideas in your heads or suggestions if God doesn't say anything stay put the Bible says be still and know that He is God sometimes the answer is actually to stay put and do nothing but this is this is not about making up stuff this is about listening to what God is saying in your situation and God told Elijah Elijah told this woman go collect the jars and this is what verse 5 says she left and did that and after his shut the door behind her they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring the oil and when all the jars were full she said to her son bring me another one but he said to her there's not a jar left then the oil stopped flowing praise the Lord this is number six believe that God can use what you had to fix your situation I think sometimes in life we say this to God Lord if this was if my car was working if I had this house if I had this these friends if I was married if I had kids if I had the right job then my life would be perfect we say these things to God but God is saying to you I am going to use the very thing you have to bless you she had oil she had jars God can use whatever you have to bless you you see you look at your situation as a problem but God looks at as an opportunity as a platform so God can use the very thing that you thought was nothing and make it something and for this lady it was her oil and in your life God can use the one thing that one thing that you have to bless you you know what we call that in math it's called multiplication so you are just married well God will use that marriage to bless you with children and grandchildren amen you just have some money what God will take your money and make it grow you have one investment well God will give you more you have one kid or a couple kids that are giving you problems and headaches that same kid God is going to use to bless you parents and used you to have grandkids to bless you God can use the one thing in your life to multiply and bless you I remember I said to God I'm gonna give you the 150 dollars I have and I put it in the offering plate and that same week God blessed me and gave me three thousand dollars in a scholarship faith plus your one little thing is amazing and God can do the impossible without one thing in your life and so instead of bringing complaints to God and say I have nothing God is bring me your faith and I'll show you what I can do amen and I want you to see how this story ends this is amazing it doesn't for a seven she went and told the man of God and he said go solve it well and pay your debts you and your sons can live on what is laughs all right circle that in your Bible and this is number seven today God can fix your situation and give you an overflow blessing there are two miracles in this story the first is God paid her debts with the oil that she had but the second is they had money left over to live off of and that's how God works you know how God works he fixes your problem he's like you thought you thought you thought I couldn't fix your problem I'll fix your problem and I'm gonna give you more I'm gonna give you an overflow blessing you know why God does that because he wants you to remember that it is God who saves it is God who gives it is God who provides and the fact that the oil stopped flowing when she filled the last jar is a miracle because we knew the oil was multiplying as she poured and then there was money left over this is icing on a cake this is what we call double miracle and miracles are when things that shouldn't happen happen in life praise the Lord here's what one commentary says and I like this miracles are the result of faith not the inspiration of faith faith is a process of learning to trust God these stories of Elijah are intended to teach the life of trust in God and to show the power of such faith in dealing with pain such faith does provide oil to pay debts revive the dead and provide food for the hungry so as you and I step out in faith God will do miracles how do I know this the Bible is scripted with miracles because of faith by faith as the Israelites walked across the Red Sea the water began to turn and they walked on dry land and by Nehemiah was able with the help of others to build the wall in 53 days and by faith Lazarus was no longer dead he rose from the death and by faith the Lord heals the sick and by faith even though job lost everything God restored and gave him double for his trouble God is looking for that person the young woman the young man the senior the adult the child to be a person of faith are you a person of faith like Elijah he believed she believed she did what she was told and not only did she experience one miracle she experienced - this is how God God works it's called overflow miracle God takes care of our needs but he gives you even more so you asked for $50.00 God's gonna give you 5000 maybe you ask for one kid God's gonna give you three you asked for a hundred people in church God can make it 500 you ask God to live one more year he can give you fifteen years you ask God to settle your court case in two years God's gonna do it in one month and you ask God to run one shop if you're an entrepreneur or you have a business and God gave you five you see God can do it all the Bible says God's arm is not too short and by faith all things are possible God can make your situation right and give you more and so today as we think about this word God wants you to look at the one thing or the couple things in your life that are good and he wants you to say get me that oil or give me that child or give me that little money you have and he wants you to come in faith and say Lord I'm gonna do what you asked me to do and I'm gonna watch how you're gonna multiply it how you're gonna make it right you on the Bible when Jesus died on the cross the enemy thought it's done it's over the King of Kings is dead but it was not over out of Jesus's death so many blessings came our salvation our freedom from sin adoption into God's family redemption forgiveness grace eternal home heaven we got more and he thought oh this is the end but it was just the beginning and in your life you just think you have this little thing in your life your little family your literal house and whatever and you have no idea how God is gonna take your little seed and make it grow those of you who are farmers you know you put that little seed in and you put a little bit of water and a little bit of Sun and also the next day like my mom's making this pepper pop thing she she put her little seed in and and they were there is nothing and the next day I saw this little green thing come out I'm like well this is serious this pepper thing is gonna work out and there now there's like four buds so just gonna have her pepper for the year for those of you who like pepper you know what I'm talking about and all it requires is a little seed and a little faith and God will make it grow and God will make it right like this woman what do you need to do and believe that God will fix it and not only will he fix it he will give you more amen let's pray lord thank you for this word we know that you have spoken and this afternoon we we come before you with Thanksgiving and we come before you with our little seed for everybody it's different Lord some people are bringing their kids their marriage their money their job their conflict Lord like this woman everybody has gone through a desperate situation for some people today it's their health [Laughter] and we all need direction we need God's blessing we need this oil represents the Holy Spirit the the Spirit of God to empower us the Spirit of God to multiply and we need to have faith O Lord we pray we have doubted your ability we have doubted who you are we doubted that you can move a mountain [Music] Lord I bring you my situations and my seeds [Music] and I pray that they will grow [Music] we put them at the altar god this story reminds us it's not my battle it's God's so why do I lose sleep at night and why am I worrying and why am i fretting what God has the answer why am i letting Satan steal my joy when the joy of the Lord is my strength [Music] thou'rt help us it's all about you and what you're doing in Jesus name Amen [Music] amen and as we sing this song it's called do it again by elevation worship many of you know the song and know we are trusting that by faith the Lord will do it again do the miracle and do the impossible we're gonna open up the altar if you would like to come to the altar you can after the song I'll come down but I will ask if there's anyone here but my prayer partners will join the folks at the altar as they pray let's stand as we sing this song together [Music] [Music]

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Keywords: Solid Rock community Church of the Nazarene, What to do when you are stuck, what to do when you are desperate, what to do when you are out of options, When you have hit rock botten, God knows, God cares, God can, Faith, Jesus Christ, Hope, Widow, 2 Kings 4: 1-7, jars and oil, oil, jars, the widow oil

Id: tZKWceaTZQY

Length: 35min 6sec (2106 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 29 2019