Dear Friends,
Well, praise God, I am excited about Dennis Burke being with us Sunday March 27th at 10.30am and 6pm. Then again on Monday/Tuesday March 28,29th at 7pm. These are going to be great meetings.
Whenever someone comes as a guest speaker, it is God sending a special messenger just for us. In the same way as when He sent Elijah to the widow at Zarephath as recorded in 1Kings 17:8-16:
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. “For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
Notice the twofold purpose of the trip to Zarephath. The first purpose was for the widow to take care of the man of God. The second was to have her and her child’s needs to be met.
When the man of God asked her for water she readily went to retrieve some, but when he asked for bread, substance, she answered “I have no bread.” The New Living Translation says, “ I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house.” The Message translation says it this way, “ I don’t have so much as a biscuit.” It does not make sense to us as to why the Lord would send the prophet to such a destitute person to meet his needs. But this was the very person that needed to have their needs met. How many times does God come to us and we reply, I have none, not even a single piece. Do we think, “Oh, a guest speaker is coming, I can’t afford another offering!” A prophet coming into town is not for the purpose of doing the “circuit” or putting the “show on the road.” This is a man of God being sent to us and for us.
Notice the woman’s needs were not met first, then out of her increase she gave to the man of God. It was her giving of what was truly significant to her, that allowed God to move in her life. We do not “tip” them for doing a good job, “Pay” them because we liked their service, Or even “bless” them because they have our approval. Neither do we withhold because they didn’t meet our expectations or keep us entertained.
God is sending the prophet to us because first, the prophet has needs. Second, we have needs. The need of the prophet is met because of our obedience, our needs will also be met because of our obedience. So, if there is certainly one thing we need to be prepared to do when the man of God comes (as we always need to be prepared to do) is being prepared to be obedient to the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord to the widow woman did not come from the clouds, or a voice out of heaven, but came through the prophet himself.
2 Chronicles 20:20 tells us “Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.” Matt 10:41 “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward;…” Isaiah 7:9 “… If you will not believe, you surely shall not last (be established).”
I want to succeed, be rewarded, be established, and last to the very end. How about you? Let’s be prepared to obey God and watch Him meet our needs through the planting of our significant seed.
This is Abundant Living, Abundant Giving, and Abounding in Grace.
Pastor Bob
