Open—Steve Stewart
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Just thinking a little bit on this portion on our.
Brother Paul spoke it just.
Came home How It's an illustration of what he's brought before us. First Kings 17, the background.
We get in verse one.
Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be due, nor reign these years, but according to my word.
We read in James that he prayed earnestly and it didn't rain by the space of 3 1/2 years.
It is a tremendous drought.
Tremendous deprivation and all the land. God tells him to go by a brook named Cherith in verse three, and he sustained Elijah there for a little while, and then he sent him to a widow woman.
And he tells him in verse 9, Arise thee, rise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Zion, and dwell there. And behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain the.
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks. And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal.
In a barrel and a little oil and a cruise, and behold, I am gathering 2 sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, and that we may eat it and die.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not.
Go and do his house, said, but make me there of a little cake 1St and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel.
The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the crews of oil fail.
Until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, She and he and her house did eat many days, and the barrel of meal wasted not. Neither did the crews of oil fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
You think of the desperation of this condition. You know our brother showed us slides last night.
And in one particular one, he said that was the last piece of bread they had they put out there for their guests to eat. It was a sacrifice, I think, of this profit coming to this woman and he meets her coming out of that city and she's on a mission. She's out to get a couple of sticks and she's going to take the little bit she has left.
Mix that meal flour and oil together and make a cake.
She and her son would eat it and that was the end of their food and they would die.
And here comes this man, he says, make me a cake.
Oh my.
But God had a purpose of blessing for her.
And you know, God has a purpose of blessing for each one of us here today.
Far beyond what she could have imagined possible.
God had a purpose of blessing for her.
And God wants you and I to give Him the first place in our life.
That's really what that's a little picture of with Elijah asking her for that cake to give him the first place in our life.
And then that blessing can flow to us unhinderedly.
00:05:02
But the what I want to bring out of this was.
She is a picture of where so many Christians are at in their lives.
They know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
They know he died for them.
And beyond that, they have no understanding.
Of what the Lord has for them, not just in the future, but presently.
Right now, she said I'm going to get 2 sticks.
What can you do with two sticks?
You can make a cross.
She said I've got just enough.
Of Christ to die.
Should I have a handful of meal? And you know, in Scripture, flour and meal is always a little picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and his spotless humanity.
There was an offering in the Old Testament called the meal offering, a flower offering, and he was that to God. His whole pathway here in this world should have a little oil and a cruise.
And oil, often in Scripture is a picture of the Holy Spirit. You know when you got saved, when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus who died on that cross, you have Christ.
And you have the anointing of the Spirit of God, you have the Spirit of God indwelling you. You have those things.
But is.
And and if I can put it that way, that's enough to die on.
You'll be in heaven. That's enough to die on.
Oh, the Lord has so much more for us and our brother has been going through the things are both our brothers, the things that the Lord has for us presently in a life of communion and fellowship with him and enjoyment of himself.
He has much more than two sticks, if I can put it that way.
And so Elijah tells her, You go ahead and make that cake.
Because the Lord said that barrel of meal, it's never going to run out.
And that cruise of oil, it's never going to run out until the day that rain comes on the earth.
She is the first person.
Among all the thousands of Israel, and here it's outside of the land of Israel and Gentile land. She is the first person to hear.
That there was going to be an end to that drought. That rain was coming on the earth. Rain is a picture of blessing, he says. Rain's coming on the earth. She found out there is a wonderful, wonderful future ahead, and our brother brought that out. There's glory.
His eternal glory, that's ahead for us. But right now, right now, he said you're going to have something of Christ every day.
To live on, to sustain your soul, you're going to be able to go to the Word of God, if I can put it that way. And you're going to be able to have a handful of Christ every day. And you're going to find the power the Spirit of God is there available for you every day in your walk, in your pathway through this one. He has so much more.
Than two sticks for you and I.
But there are many who are satisfied with two sticks.
Good enough. I know that if I die I'm going to go to heaven and I just want to live my life how I want to live it. I really don't care about the rest. Not so interested in a walk of communion with the Lord and enjoyment of the Lord. I just am happy to know I'm going to be in heaven if anything happens to me.
You know there's something else you can make with two sticks.
Two sticks are the most rudimentary form of a ladder that you can make.
Remember seeing those long poles up to Cliff dwellings and little cross pieces like little crosses.
All the way up.
Two sticks bound together. It's the most rudimentary form of a ladder that you can make.
00:10:04
And so many look at the cross as nothing more.
Than a ladder to get them out of the pit and they go on their way to live their lives for themselves.
And it's a wasted life, though they may have a safe soul. The Lord has so much more for you and I than just two sticks, if I can put it that way. But a life of walking and finding every day is a portion of Christ and the power of the Spirit of God to make it good to our souls for us.
You see #1.
And #1.
Flowed through the grass crowd with glass and God waving again.
We praise me.
And will grace me, Lord.
To be your own real.
Blood pressure save joy and no power.
That makes him precious.
You.