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A
Little Oil What You Have
July
27, 2008
2Ki
4:1 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.¡±
2Ki
4:2 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 little oil.¡±
2Ki
4:3 Elisha said, ¡°Go around and ask all your neighbors for
empty jars. Don¡¯t ask for just a few.
2Ki
4:4 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.¡±
2Ki
4:5 She left him and afterward shut
the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept
pouring.
2Ki
4:6 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.
2Ki 4:7 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.¡±
I. The difficult time
1. Her husband was part of the
company of the prophets.
2. Her husband died who revered
the Lord.
3. His creditor is going to take
her 2 sons as his slaves.
4. She had nothing to pay back to
her husband¡¯s creditor.
Our life is not always easy and successful, and we have various
challenges along the way.
Like this woman who was in the ministry and had seen the anointing
of God, she faced this difficult time with no way out.
She was trapped in a financial situation, and because of that she
was about to loose everything, including her own sons.
She might have complained to the Lord about her situation, but even
her husband followed the Lord. She might have also felt that this was unfair
treatment from the Lord.
I Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God
is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when
you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under
it.
II. Responding to the difficult time
1.
She cried out to Elisha for help.
We have to bring it to the Lord (Elisha is the symbol of Jesus:
Sha=Yeshua).
Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God.
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
III. Counseling with the Lord
1. Elisha
1) How can I help you?
2) Tell me, what do you have
in your house?
2. This woman saw what she had
1) Your servant has nothing
there at all,¡± she said,
2) ¡°except a little oil.¡±
We need the Lord¡¯s counsel continually.
Psalm 1:1a
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
We have to always seek the Lord¡¯s counsel only!
The Holy Spirit is in you.
I Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from
God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price.
Therefore honor God with your body.
VI, Receiving Instruction from the Lord
1. Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
2 Timothy 2:20-21
20 In a large house there are
articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for
noble purposes and some for ignoble.
21 If a man cleanses himself
from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful
to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Todd Bentley – he is a vessel of the Lord, but he is not the
anointing.
He is a carrier of the anointing.
God uses His vessel, which contains the anointing for revival.
We need to prepare our own vessels to receive the oil.
Do not hang around old things at all.
If you had a tremendous experience from the Lord yesterday, then
today it becomes old, and you need to receive a new experience. We need to be
ready for new things that God has prepared for today.
2. Don¡¯t ask for
just a few
We really need to expand our capacity.
We have to seek big things from the Lord.
Dawson Trotman – ¡°Do not ask a peanut, but ask the continental.¡±
Ask the Lord Himself for your life.
3. Then go inside
and shut the door behind you and your sons.
We must have personal encounters with the Lord.
We have to concentrate on the Lord alone.
This has to do with your family, your church, and yourself.
4. Pour oil into
all the jars, and as each is
filled put it to one side
We need to receive the anointing continually.
We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit continually in our daily
life.
Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be
filled with the Spirit.
V. Obedience following
the instruction
1. She left him and afterward shut the
door behind her and her sons.
2. They brought the jars to her and she
kept pouring.
3. When all the jars were full, she said
to her son, ¡°Bring me another one.¡±
4. But he replied, ¡°There is not a jar left.¡±
5. Then the oil stopped flowing.
When our capacity is full then the anointing will stop.
We want to be full of the Lord.
God wants us to be in His fullness.
One of the purposes of the anointing is to reach His fullness.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit
is
love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law.
VI. Use the anointing for a purpose
1. She went and
told the man of God, and
2. he said, ¡°Go, sell the oil and
pay your debts.
3. You and your sons can live on
what is left.¡±
The
purpose of the anointing
To
Know Jesus Christ, and To Make Him Known
To Know Jesus Christ
John
17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
To Make Him Known
Acts1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.¡±
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