Positioning For A Miracle
10/15/2000 1 Kings 17:1-12 Luke 19:1-9
Pastor Toby and I have gone to a few volleyball games to watch some of the girls play. Just before the game starts, the girls all get into this squat like position, with their hands locked together moving from side to side with their arms and upper body. Now if you did not know they were playing volleyball, you’d be able to get a good laugh just looking at them. But each girl is expecting to make something happen the moment the ball comes over the net. They are attempting to put themselves in the best position possible to make something happen. They do not have any control over how the ball is going to approach them, but they are doing their best to make the most of whatever opportunity may come their way.
Often times, people will make the comment "I’m waiting on the Lord" for such and such when, all they may be doing is wasting time. Waiting on the Lord does not mean you sit back and see what it is God might do for you. In the verse those that "wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The word wait does not mean to sit down. It’s the word which means to wait on a table as a waiter or waitress would do at a restaurant. A good waiter or waitress is moving about quickly to serve the person he or she has been assigned to serve. Good waiters or waitresses know how to position themselves in such a way as to respond to your needs before being asked. To wait on the Lord means to position yourself to be ready to respond to what the Lord desires to send your way.
In our New Testament reading, Zacheaus wanted a miracle from Jesus. Here was this wealthy man who was probably used to people begging before him who needed to position himself to meet Jesus. I suppose he could have tried to have had his secretary contact the disciples to arrange a meeting with Jesus at his office. He could have tried that, but he never would have received a miracle from Jesus. He had the money to send a limousine to come and pick Jesus up and bring him to his house, but if he had tried that option, he would not have received a miracle from Jesus. In order to position himself for a miracle, Zaccheaus needed to forget about who he was, how much money he had, and what other people might think.
This Chief Executive Officer of Roman Taxation Incorporated, went out into the streets with a desire to see Jesus. God showed him a tree. "Now Zaccheus, if you want to meet Jesus, you’ve got to humble yourself and climb that tree." Can you imagine how funny this middle aged man must have looked, trying to climb a tree. Somebody crying out "help him Lord." But Zaccheus was positioning himself for a miracle. When Jesus got to him, he granted him a miracle of salvation that not only changed Zzaccheus, but was a financial blessing for a whole lot of people who really needed their money.
In order to receive a miracle from the Lord, sometimes we have to position ourselves to make it happen. If all we do is talk, without filling out an application, or making a change, or going to find somebody who can show us the right direction, we never will get beyond where we are today. Just waiting on the Lord is not enough. Do something in the waiting period. Getting in the right position requires some effort on our part.
Go back with me in history when King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were leaders of the country of Israel. Now this couple were famous for all the evil deeds they did. King Ahab was a pretty wicked fellow by himself, but that he was egged on to do even more evil by his wife Jezebel. They rejected the true God of Israel, and started to serve a god by the name of Baal. Now Baal was believed to be the god of fertility who made things grow and who controlled the weather to produce all the food needed. If you needed rain, you simply asked Baal for it.
Now God contacted Elijah the prophet, and let him know, "I’m about to position you for a miracle. I want you to go and tell King Ahab, that I said there will be neither dew nor rain for the next few years except at my word." Now Elijah was already upset with the King. He could not wait, to get in there and to tell the king off in a righteous manner of course.
He marched to the palace. The guards asked, "do you have an appointment". He told them, I don’t need any appointment. "I’m Elijah. My name means servant of the Lord. I’ve got a message from God for the king." Now Elijah God had sent him so he was as bold as a lion when he got in before the King. "Now King I know that you think Baal is a god who controls the weather, but I want you to know right now that my God says there will be neither dew nor rain for the next few years except at my word."
King Ahab was not interested in this foolishness. He told Elijah to basically hit the road. Elijah walked out of that palace like he was the man, taking his time, letting everybody know he was God’s servant. He was not afraid. The more king Ahab thought about what had happened the more he got upset. "How dare this two bit preacher come in here and run off at the mouth at me. I think I’ll show him at thing or two."
God spoke to Elijah and said, "brother you had better pick up your step and start running for your life. Get out of here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine , east of the Jordan." Now I want you to see just because the Lord wants you to be bold in one situation does not mean you go around being bold in every situation you face. The same God who told him to be bold and stand up to the king, turned around and said, "it’s time for you to run for your life and get out of this situation." The miracle was not going to be found in standing on something he had done in the past, but in moving with the word of the Lord for the future.
Sometimes positioning yourself for a miracle, means becoming humble in a situation. Our attitudes, our way of speaking, our way of carrying ourselves must change. God sent Elijah to what appeared to be a deserted place to hide from the King. God told him, "don’t worry now, you will drink from the brook and I have ordered ravens to feed you there." Now Elijah could have said, "Lord I have faith you will protect me from the King, I’m not afraid of Ahab or Jezebel." Keep this in mind, our faith can never over rule the commands of God. When we claim to be taking a step of faith, that is contrary to the word of God, we are setting ourselves up for a disaster.
Elijah obeyed the word of the Lord. He went to the Kerith Ravine and stayed there. Well he saw the brook from which he could drink some water, but what about his food. Sometimes we are scared to leave a situation that’s keeping us down physically, financially and spiritually because we do not see how the Lord will make a way for us. At the appointed time, a few birds came by and dropped off some bread and some meat in the morning and then again in the evening. Now I doubt if they came with a five course meal. Sometimes we get upset that we do not have all that we want to have, and fail to see the miracle in the little the Lord has provided which meets what we need.
As the time passed, with no rain in sight, the brook started to dry up. I can imagine Elijah praying "oh God, do not let this brook dry up or I’ll die of thirst out here." Do you know what happened? The brook dried up. Sometimes to position ourselves for a miracle, we have to be willing to let go of what we think is the only way God is able to provide for our needs. Your job is not your source of income, neither is your retirement check, or anything else you may be trusting in. God could change a circumstance in our lives today, which would make our income completely insignificant to meet the financial needs we would have. Our prayer should not be, do not let the brook dry up, but rather "Lord, I know that if this brook dries up, you’ll show me another way to make it."
Elijah was going through a test in his life. One day he got up and the brook had gone dry. To make matters worse, the ravens did not show up that morning with his bread and meat. Elijah probably thought, "well the Lord must want me to spend some time fasting and praying." God spoke to him and said, "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
Now this requires a step of faith on Elijah’s part. Sure he had been praying to get out of the desert where he had been hiding, but go to Zarephath. Didn’t God know Zarephath was the region where Queen Jezebel was from, and that he had been hiding from her. Didn’t God also know that Zarephath was about 90 miles away and not only did he not have a car, he did not even have a donkey. Now some of us would have tried to stay in the desert a little bit longer just to see if God would come up with something which was a little easier for us to do.
We cannot position ourselves for miracles by trying to wait for God to come up with something easier for us to do. Disobedience to the word of God has kept us from so many blessings God wants to give us. Disobedience is at the heart of being out of position to receive God’s blessings. Elijah had learned, when the Lord speaks, I’m going to do what He says. We cannot be content staying with something the Lord provided a long time ago, when God is saying it’s time to move on to something new. One of our greatest hindrances can be the success we have had in the past. It will take our focus off of what the Lord is calling us to in the future.
It was not easy for Elijah to go all the way to Zarephath but he went. Some of you are going through some things right now that are not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but keep going. You’re positioning yourself for a miracle. One day you’re going to look back and say, "how did the Lord bring me through all this." When you think about what God had done, you’ll be telling anybody who asks, "This is the reason why I sing."
When Elijah had finished that 90 mile journey, even if he did find a donkey or a camel along the way, how many of you know he was probably tired. He was now a foreigner in another country. Did not know a soul around in the city. No money in his pockets. All he knew was that the Lord had told him, "I’ve prepared a widow to supply you with food." Now if God had of told us, go to Cincinnati, because I’ve provided a person to feed you the whole time you’re there", we’d probably be looking for somebody who had some money. "Oh yeah, the Lord is going to touch one of these rich people here, and I’m going to eat it up."
Now Elijah knew something, that we often forget. What we see is not always what the Lord sees. Sure there were plenty of rich people in the city, that God could have sent him to, but God said to go and look for a widow. That would have been the equivalent of saying to us, "Go look for a lady barely making in on her Disability Check for I have told her to feed you." When we think of a miracle from God, we tend to think God has to lead us to people with great wealth. What we need is for God to lead us to people with great faith. It does not matter whether the Lord sends us a few people with a lot of money, or a bunch of people with very little money, our New Life Center will come about because of faith and obedience to whatever the Lord tells us to do.
When Elijah saw the widow, he used the same test as Abraham’s servant had used when he went looking for a wife for Isaac. He asked the woman for a drink of water. If nothing else, when you meet a stranger who asks you for a drink of water make sure you give it to him or to her. A lot of things come into our lives from something which seems very insignificant at the time. Sometimes remembering to do something small for others, in the midst of your own trials may place you in position for a miracle.
Here is a woman who has prayed herself out. There was a time in her past when she had been a woman of standing. She knew how to serve guest with the best of hospitality. But that was before she lost her husband. After her husband’s death, the famine and drought had consumed what she and her son had left. Now she’s a single mother doing the best she can. She’s out of money and practically out of food. She honestly believes in a few days she will be dead of starvation because she has no one left to turn to for help. As weary as she was, she was walking around picking up whatever sticks she could find to start a fire. You talk about having a reason to be depressed. Yet when this foreign stranger asks her for a drink of water, she lays all of her problems aside to go and get him a drink. She has not forgotten her ways of hospitality to strangers. She still has her dignity and compassion for others.
As she goes, Elijah calls out, "and by the way, could also please bring me a piece of bread." That’s when she tells him the extent of her troubles. She breaks down and cries. She says, "Mister, as surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread. At best there’s a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. You see these sticks I have been gathering. I’m going to take them home and make one last meal for myself and my son. It will be our final meal together, and then well. We will simply have each other until we die.
That widow knew what her circumstances were, but she did not understand that she was in the grand scheme of the plan of God. God had chosen her as just the person He needed to get the job done. Sometimes we think our situation is too much to bear, but all the time God is maneuvering us into His corner to position us for a miracle.
Elijah, said to her, "Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake 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 gives rain on the land."
I want you to notice, Elijah made it clear that God knew exactly what she had. He also made it clear, it was not the amount of oil or flour in the jar that was the key issue, but rather God’s ability to replenish it. Now in order to position herself for this miracle, she had to take care of God’s request of her first. One of our themes is "Not equal giving, but equal willingness to sacrifice." For this widow, it was flour and oil she sacrificed. For us it might be a rent payment, some stocks and bonds, a car, a building, a bank account or whatever. To position ourselves for a miracle will mean different things to different people in terms of the New Life Center.
Some of us would have told Elijah, "man you got some nerve with that rip off scheme. I’ll wait for God to tell me that Himself." Some of us would have told him, "I’d like to believe what you said, but I got to look out for me and my son first. I’m sorry I can’t help you." Some of us would take the approach the woman did. She went away and did as Elijah told her.
She baked him the cake first. That was her sacrifice to the Lord. Then the meal she had intended to be her last one, became the first meal of a miracle working God. The Scriptures tell us, there was food everyday for Elijah, for the woman, and her family in verse 15. Notice it was not just she and her son who was blessed because of her sacrifice, but the other members of her family who she could not depend upon. God goes above and beyond what we think when we are faithful to him. That’s why we’re praying for the names in the basket.
Verse 16 says, "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. God never sent huge drums of oil or large bags of flour. He just gave them whatever they need for that particular day. Our God is able to stretch our supplies to meet our daily needs. Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." We do not have to have a lot to give a lot. We have to have faith in God being the supplier of our needs. Once we understand this, we will feel free to give ourselves to God, because we know He will give back much more to us.
Jesus put it this way, the enemy came to kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. That life begins when we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s where we need to begin to position ourselves for a miracle.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
Positioning For A Miracle 10/15/2000
1Kings 17:1-6 Luke 19:1-9
A. Positioning Puts You In The Right Place
1. The Girls Volleyball Team
2. Hands, Arms, Swaying
3. Ready For The Ball--Control
4. I’m Waiting On The Lord
5. Wait--Waiter-Waitress
6. Good Waiters Position Themselves
7. Wait-Positioning Yourself Before God
B. A Man In Search Of A Miracle
1. People Begging Him
2. Secretary To Disciples, Limousine Pickup
3. Forget Who, What, How Much
4. Chief Executive Of RTI
5. Humbling--Tree-- Lord Help Him
6. Blessing To Many
7. Talk, Application, Change, Show Us The Way--Get in Position
C. Meeting The King & The Queen
1. King Ahab & Queen Jezebel--Israel
2. Baal--Fertility, God Of Rain & Weather
3. God Positions Elijah For A Miracle
4. Go Tell The King--No Rain
5. Do You Have An Appointment
6. Elijah- My Name Means Servant Of The Lord
D. The Results Of The Meeting
1. Baal Won’t Cut It--No Rain But By Me
2. A Confident Walk-- You Da’ Man
3. Bold As A Lion
4. A King Gets Upset
5. God--Brother Pick Up You Steps
6. Kerith Ravine, East Of Jordan Hide
7. Know When To Hold Them, Know When To Fold Them, Know when….
8. God May Have Us Bold Today, But Running For Cover Tomorrow
E. Positioning For A Miracle Involves Humbling Ourselves
1. Change In Speaking, Attitude, Carrying Oneself
2. Deserted Place--God Will Provide
3. The Brook & The Ravens
4. God I have Faith You Will Save Me..
5. Faith Cannot Be Contrary To God’s Word
6. Don’t Be Afraid To Leave Something Keeping You Down Physically, Financially, Spiritually
7. Ravens-5 Course Meal---Be Thankful
F. Time For A Change So Be Ready
1. God Please Save The Brook
2. Not Job, Retirement, Account---God Source
3. Prayer--Lord Show Me Another Way
4. Elijah Was In A Test--Chance To Fast
G. Was God Really Serious
1. A Widow In Zerapath To Supply Needs
2. Jezebel, 90 Miles, No Car, Donkey
3. Hold Out A Little Longer
4. Disobedience-Waiting For Easy
5. Content--But God Moving --
6. Success Dangerous
7. Times Hard As You Position-- But Wait For Your Testimony
H. I’m In A Foreign Land
1. Foreigner, No Money, No Connections,
2. Looking For The Right Widow
3. Go To Cincinnati--That Rich Person
4. God Sees Differently
5. Lady On Disability
6. Few Wealthy, Many Little
7. Faith And Obedience Is The Key
8. The Test Of The Drink--Abraham’s Servant--Give Me A Drink
9. Give Up The Drink & Be Blessed
I. A Woman In Turmoil
1. Former Standing, Former Hospitality
2. Loss Of Husband--Then The Famine
3. Single Mom, Out Of Options,
4. Death Near, The Sticks The Fire Cake
J. Another Request That Was Not Possible
1. Bring Some Bread
2. A Lady Breaks Down In Tears
3. A Handful Of Flour, A Little Oil
4. One Last Meal Together
5. Did Not Know She Was Part Of The Plan Of God.
6. Elijah Gives A Word From The Lord
7. My Cake First--Then Yours
8. It Will Not Run Out
9. God Knew What She Had--But Required Sacrifice Still
10. Not Equal Giving, But Equal Willingness To Sacrifce
11. Oil/Flour--Rent Payment, Stocks Bonds, Car, Building, Bank Account
12. How Will We Get Into Position
K. The Possible Responses
1. Hey Don’t Rip Me Off
2. Hey, I’d Like To Help But, I must first
3. Use Me Lord For A Miracle
Vs. 15She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
4. Blessing To Her Family
5. God Does Above And Beyond
L. God Keeps His Word
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. 1 Kings 17:15-16 [NIV]
1. Never Sent Large Bags & Barrels
2. Jesus--Ask For Daily Bread
3. God Stretches Our Supplies
4. Changes--When God Is Our Source
M. Jesus Came For Abundant Life.
