Today, we continue getting back to the small things which are the big things to God. We’re getting back to the elemental parts of this amazing thing that Jesus created called church from the book of Acts.
Church Elements.
So far, we learned about two pairs of foundational church elements, praise/prayer and persuasion/power.
Today, we learn of a church element that often results from our prayers to and praise of God that release God’s power and persuasion to be witnesses and to reach the lost; provision.
To say that God is a provider is one of the greatest understatements of all time!
God is not just a provider, He is truly the only provider of all things! He is the only one who has ever created anything! All that mankind, or any of God’s creatures, have ever made was made using the materials which God created in the first place!
When we hear the word provision, we typically think of material things. Food, drink, shelter, clothes, transportation; the essentials of life. However, we need far more than just these material things in life and God provides them as well. Love, comfort, joy, peace, companionship, self-control and so much more! Freedom, healing, restoration, deliverance, wisdom, guidance, and so much more!
James sums it up well:
James 1:17
(NLT)
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
(AMP)
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].
After the church was birthed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, God released provision. In fact, even the baptism of the Holy Spirit, itself, was provision of God’s power to be witnesses. Look at the picture that God paints of His church:
Acts 2:44-47
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4:32-35
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
They didn’t just distribute food once a month, they distributed food daily birthing the need for deacons in the church (Acts 6)!
God works through people. It was purposefully and intentionally that way from the beginning, it is now, and it will be until the end!
Genesis 2:4-5;8-9;15
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
15 The Lord God took the man He created and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Right at the beginning, God chose to co-labor with mankind to release His provision. God planted, God grew, but man worked and stewarded to bring about provision. Co-laboring. Setting the example right from the very beginning of how we ought to live.
This co-laboring was clearly evident throughout the book of Acts as God provided through His people for His people. When some were in need, those who had gave. What made it clear that God’s grace was truly the source of this provision is because no one ended up needy.
Generosity is an attitude and a mindset and an expression of faith that releases God’s provision. It just doesn’t make sense because if you take God out of the equation, it does not work.
The problem with socialist and communist forms of governing people is that eventually, you run out of other people’s money and you end up with only need. Robin Hooding works well at first; taking from those who have much and giving it to those who have little. However, those who have much end up also having little. Before long, everyone ends up in poverty.
The early church kind of looked that way. No one claimed that any possessions were their own. They shared everything that they had. If they had property, they sold it and distributed it to whoever had need. However, no one ended up needy in the end.
The only reason that it worked for them is because they were doing it at God’s direction trusting Him as their source. He never runs out! In God’s Kingdom, there is always an abundance no matter how much gets poured out!
This is God’s nature and God’s character. Long before the church, Elijah proved this about God’s provision. It never runs out!
Now we start with a mindset shift. God’s provision isn’t always what we would expect. God doesn’t hand us a menu and meet our demands. Sometimes God gives us a little to see if we will be faithful stewards of it; to see if we will be grateful for it; to see where our hearts and our faith are; to see what comes out of our mouths in response to it.
1 Kings 17:2-16
Elijah Fed by Ravens
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
Two sandwiches a day and fish water to wash it down. That was God’s provision for Elijah.
It wasn’t exactly ham or turkey or bologna, either. Does anyone know what ravens eat? They are certainly meat eaters! However, the meat that they eat come from dead and decomposing carcasses. Now I’m only speculating, but I doubt that ravens brought Elijah a freshly smoked rack of ribs or some rump roast. They likely brought Elijah the same meat that they found irresistible. The stink-ier the better!
Of course, they did manage to find some bread to bring his way, so I could be wrong there.
In any case, Elijah obeyed. He did what the Lord told him to do and he did it for a while! And then he lived happily ever after, right? He was doing what God told him to do so surely he was just richly and abundantly blessed for it, right?
Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
Even the little provision that Elijah had dried up and came to an end. He opened his banking app and after that dollar sign was a little dash. Uh Oh! What was he going to do?
He didn’t go running back to where he came from. He didn’t head back to the west. He didn’t panic or fret as far as we are aware. He must have been praying and pressing in and seeking God because what came next was God’s word and direction to guide him toward the provision to meet this need.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it – and die.”
Now I don’t know how you all would feel right about now, but I know how I would be feeling. It takes a whole lot for me personally to ask for help. And when I ask for help, it isn’t from a poor single mom. Especially after her response, I would be really questioning whether or not I heard the Lord correctly.
Why wouldn’t He send Elijah off to a rich family with plenty to spare? Why would He send Elijah to ask this woman to give something that she doesn’t even have?
How would you respond to this widow after she said that?
Here’s how Elijah responded!
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid.
Alright, there’s faith!
There is trust in God!
Comfort her in her pain and misery!
Give her peace in the midst of this tragic situation!
Go home and do as you have said.
Alright.
She’s still going to go home and make a meal.
Apparently not her last meal since Elijah told her not to be afraid.
I’m still with Elijah.
But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me
Wait, what?!?
She only has enough for one last meal for her and her son.
Go home and cook lady, but after you finish that meal, give it to me to eat.
What?
and then make something for yourself and your son.
Wait.
She only has enough for one more meal and then to die of starvation.
If she makes that meal and brings it to Elijah, how is she going to make anything for herself?
This makes no earthly sense…
14 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 sends rain on the land.’”
It may make no earthly sense, but because it is done in obedience to what the Lord says, then it makes perfect Heavenly sense. Give generously. Give all you have. Then, you will have an abundance. Give it all away in surrender to receive more than you need. Die that you may live. Give that you may receive.
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 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.
This principle doesn’t work in socialism or communism, but it works in Christianity because the source isn’t man, but God. It is faith expressed through obedience that releases provision.
Sometimes for us to have a rich abundance is simply to have God’s blessing on the little that we have.
Godliness with contentment IS GREAT GAIN!!!
Giving what God says to give, when God says to give, and how God says to give. Considering nothing ours, but everything His.
I don’t often teach on or even mention tithing. Yes, giving 10% of our gross income is Biblical and required. To withhold our tithe is to rob God, which is never a good idea! We give 10% back to God, our first fruits, so that He might bless the 90% that He entrusts to us. Offerings are anything beyond that.
What I do often teach on and mention is surrender. Giving only a tithe, only what is required, misses the whole point. Giving only 10% is kind of stingy and not generous by any means! In our culture, everyone from the government to our waiters and waitresses get more than 10%.
Surrender. Everything is God’s. It has simply been entrusted into our hands for a season. We ought to live in such a way that we give God not only 10% of our income, but all of it AND all of our earthly belongings AND all of ourselves as well!
Surrender. First fruits. Our best and not our left overs. Faith in action. This is what God deserves!
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
Who expressed faith in God? The many people who gave 99.99% of the funds into the temple treasury that day? No! The one who gave 0.000001% of the funds that day. She may have given the least, but it cost her the most. It cost her everything!
She was just like the widow who gave her last meal to Elijah which meant a death sentence to herself AND HER SON by earthly facts.
BUT GOD!
When we live according to His word, when we live in such a way as to entrust everything to Him, ALL IN!, He releases provision that can only be described as good and perfect!
There are times and seasons for everything. Sometimes we are on the giving end and sometimes we are on the receiving end. Both are a blessing and both are expressions of faith!
I firmly believe that it took just as much faith for Elijah to ask that widow for her last meal as it did for her to prepare it and give it. Because they both were obedient to the word of the Lord, they both enjoyed many meals together!
Remember how that testimony ended: “So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 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.”
What has the Lord spoken to you?
How has the Lord asked you to be all in?
Whether giving generously or asking for help to meet a need, we choose to live by faith.
As we begin the adventurous and truly fun cycle of giving and receiving by the Lord’s lead, the fundamental church element of provision will be released!