Date of Sermon Delivery: 17. September. 2023
Place of sermon Delivery: Delhi, India
Sunday Worship Service
Speaker: Brother Jatin
Title : when we are weak, God is great.
Bible : 2 King 4:1-7
Key verse : Matthew 6:6
1. 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.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.
4 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.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.
Good morning
Today, on this new morning, I welcome you all to the house of the Lord.
I hope you all have enjoyed the presence of the lord through worship.
I want to tell you that whenever you get time, worship God, because when we worship Him with songs, we express our hearts to Him through those songs.
Worship expresses our love for God.
As you sing Bollywood songs, you just feel happy.
But when you sing God's songs, you feel happy, and along with that, God also becomes happy.
Worship his name more and express to him in your heart how much you love that, Lord.
Before going into today's words, I want to ask you all: have you ever gone through a hard time in your life? Or someone here who is going through a hard time?
You are in a situation where you do not know what to do.
What do you do when you are facing problems in your relationship that you cannot solve?
What do you do when there are problems at work and it seems that there is no way out?
What do you do when you have all the days left in the month and no money?
What do you do when there are problems at work and it seems that there is no way out?
What do you do when you feel that you did well in the exam but still failed?
What do you do when your heart is broken because what you thought didn't happen?
What do you do when you lose someone and now you cannot bear the loneliness, grief, and pain?
I do not think that anyone can give it all an answer, but the Lord has the answers to all those questions.
Yet today, scripture can help us.
This passage tells us about a poor, widow woman who was having difficulties.
She did not know what to do or where to turn.
In her pain and her poverty, she did the only thing that she knew she should do: she turned to the Lord.
When she did that, God came through for her in a very great way.
She was the prophet's wife.
Prophet Elijah had Bible school, and after him, Elisha had all authority and anointing.
So this widow husband was one of the men who were in training under Elisha to be the prophets and preachers in Israel.
Her husband, her lover, her friend, her provider, and her protector had been taken away from her in death. She is broken because a loved one has been taken away.
Since her husband is dead, she cannot pay her bill; she is in debt.
Now the creditor is coming to take her sons as slaves so they can work off the debt, because this was allowed in the Jewish law Leviticus 23:59.
Can you feel this woman's situation this morning?
She has lost her lovely husband; she is in debt; and now she is going to lose her sons as well.
She will now be left alone. She is disappointed in every way.
She is overloaded with debt, and she does not know how she can pay it.
But this woman inspired me a lot throughout her life.
All ways are closed; nothing can be seen, and at such times, negative thoughts start coming.
What did my husband get by serving God all his life?
What did my husband get by praying all his life?
And still, our situations are the same.
When negative thoughts start coming, those thoughts drive us away from God and the church.
Negative thought drives us into the world, and that thought comes through our mouth, goes through our ear, and makes our situation more tribble.
But this woman did not give up her hope.
When everything seems to be over
When despair appears everywhere
Even when there is no hope in sight, have hope that God has a plan for you.
When the Lord was bringing the Israelites out of that life of slavery, they were being chased by Pharaoh and his army, and they had a lot of weapons, but a huge sea came in front of the Israelites, and now they could not go forward. Even they could not go back because a very large army was coming to kill them.
Due to this, they were very scared and did not know what they should do.
(Ex 14:13) And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
(Ex 14:14) The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
When they could not see anything and were trapped between a big sea and a big army, the Lord came before them with his plan and said, You will not see this army after today because I am for you. I will fight with them, and the Lord divided the sea into two parts, and all the Israelites went to the other side, and the entire Egyptian army drowned in the sea.
No matter what you are called on to face in this life, learn to turn to the Lord first for the help you need and confess that my God has a plan for me.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This widow woman did not lose hope in her limitations and weakness.
She did not lose her faith; she did not stop working for it.
She brought faith to work and went to God’s house because she knew where my help comes from.
In such a situation, she should have gone to people; the debtor is standing in his house.
She should have gone to the people, relatives, and told them about her pain; she should have told them that she is helpless. But this morning I want to encourage myself and you that we should not cry in front of people for our sorrow but cry in front of God, who keeps our tears in his bottle.
But this woman did not go to her neighbour's house; she did not go to any relative's house; she went to God’s house; she went to the house of the servant of God.
If there is any problem going on in your house and you do not see any solution,
If there is any problem going on regarding your job and there is no solution.
If you are sick and you don't see any way out,
If you have any problems regarding marriage and do not see any solution, then I want to tell you that you are sitting in the right place in the house of God.
When this widow was broken, she went to the right place. She was in debt, she was in sorrow, and she was losing her sons, but still she came to the house of the Lord.
Today, this woman is challenging us to see what we do in adverse situations.
What do we do in an adverse situation?
Sometimes we stop coming to church, sometimes we leave God, and sometimes we start to use(Speak) hopeless words, but today this woman is teaching us that we may never lose our hope because we have that God who turns nothing into everything.
So, the servant of God asked her two questions: What shall I do for you? And what do you have?
The same question God is asking us: what shall he do for us? And what do we have?
This widow could say to Elisha, Elisha, If I had something, why would I come here?
This woman could have argued with Elisha, but she did not argue with him.
When God asks you something, do not twist your answer; give him a direct answer.
She said, Servant of God, I have a small jar of olive oil." In the KJV, it is mentioned a pot of oil. And the word pot refers to a flask (Kuppi).
This was probably a small amount of oil used by the prophets to anoint the men of God.
This little flask of oil has sat unused in the house since her husband died.
But Elisha gave her one formula, and that formula is here for all of you too: to seek blessings from God.
Formula to get healing from diseases, formula to get prosperity, formula to get good relations
The formula was to go back home and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. (Verse 3).
Do not ask just a few; sometimes we keep our bowl so small in front of God.
One morning, two men went fishing on the riverside, and they stayed there all day. But one man had a strange habit: every time he would catch a fish, he would pull out a little ruler and measure it. If the fish measured larger than the ruler, he would throw it back, but he kept all of the little fish that he caught and threw back all the big ones.
But another man, when he was looking at him, said, I cannot stay any longer here, because I have never seen a man who kept all of the small fish and threw back all the big ones.
The man said because I have an eight-inch frying pan,
God does not want to give us little; he is ready to give us much; therefore, he said to the widow, Do not ask for just a few jars, but bring a lot of jars.
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." (verse4)
Then take all the jars inside your room, shut the door behind you, and pour oil into all the jars.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
He did not say to her, Pour oil into one jar, then bring others jars from the neighbour.
But he said, First, bring a lot of jars, and then shut your door.
There should be times like this in our lives too.
There should be a time in our day where you and your God are together. There should be a time in your day where you can talk to God in a quiet place.
This is the formula for getting blessings from God.
Faith moved in that widow's heart, and she obeyed the Lord. They borrowed the vessels, and she and her sons shut themselves up in the house and trusted God to do what he had promised to do.
Can you imagine the scenes in that little home that day? There was that mother with her sons, and all those empty vessels were sitting all over that house.
She picks up that flask of oil, and one of those boys says, Mom, what are you doing with that little flask of oil?
Why did you have us borrow all those vessels from the neighbours?
And she says, Boys, I do not have all the answers, but I believe the Lord is about to do something great in our home.
With that, they hand her the first vessels, and she fills them up one after the other, and oil just keeps pouring out of that little flask until every vessel is filled.
Today, if you are in trouble, if you are in sorrow, if your failure is depressing you, if your tomorrow is worrying you, if you are in a lot of debt, if you have problems in your house,
I want to encourage you that personally start to spend time with God.
There should be only you and your Lord; believe in the word of God, and do whatever he is saying to you.
If you will see the NLT Bible, Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your father, who sees everything, will reward you.
When you pray, turn away from yourself too, and the Bible also says Jesus said, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
The NLT verse in the Bible says when you pray, go away by yourself and leave everything behind. And shut the door behind you; shut the door that makes you doubt; shut the door that makes you negative; and pray to your father in private, who sees everything; then he will reward you.
Spend the time with God more; have the desire to spend time with your God when you are in bed.
The woman and her sons filled one vessel after another until every vessel they had borrowed was full.
When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one. "But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. (Verse 6)
She began that day with nothing, but when she put her faith in God in her weakness, she ended it with everything. This is what our God can do.
Many times, we forget the Lord after His work is done. Many times, when we need Him, we pray to Him with great devotion, but after getting it, we reduce our prayers again and then move away from the Lord.
But this widow, when she saw a great miracle in her life and the greatness of God in her life, came back again to God’s house and shared everything with God’s servant.
He said, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.
Dear brothers and sisters:
Maybe your life situation is not good.
Maybe you are going through a period of despair.
Maybe you are facing many problems in your life.
Maybe people make fun of you.
But this morning I want to encourage you that whenever you are weak, God is always great.
Spend more time with him; spend your more personal time with him. As I told you at the beginning of this year, last year I saw many downfalls in me, and that was because I had very short time with the Lord.
But this year I again made my personal time with him where he and I are together.
When you are setting with him, share with him your problems, joys, and worries, because he has a solution for every problem.
There is one Hindi song, and I like its lyrics so much.
It says Har sawaal ka jawab tu, har dard ka ilaaj tu, har ummeed ka aasha tu, andhero mein ujala tu.
(You are the answer to every question, you are the cure to every pain, you are the hope for every hope, you are the light in the darkness.)
He knows you, he knows your name, he knows your limitations, he knows your worries, he knows your past, he knows you present, and he knows your future also.
I just want to tell you that He cares for you, brings your vessels, and let him amaze you with that he can do with your situation.
May the Lord Jesus bless all of us.
Amen.
