Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Hosts Pastors' Lee and Jim.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
Empty Your Vessels: Unlocking God's Abundance
Ever felt like you're drowning in a debt you can't possibly repay? The ancient widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 stood at this precise precipice—her husband dead, creditors threatening to take her children as slaves, and only a single jar of oil to her name. Yet this moment of absolute desperation became the setting for one of scripture's most powerful demonstrations of divine provision.
Pastors Lee and Jim unpack this remarkable story, drawing parallels between the widow's financial debt and the spiritual debt we all face that only Jesus can pay. "I had a debt in my life that I could not pay," Pastor Jim reflects, "and Jesus Christ is the only one who can wipe my sins away and make me clean and whole again."
This episode explores how God multiplies what we surrender—even resources that seem insignificant in our eyes. The widow's small jar of oil became the seed of her salvation when she followed Elisha's unusual instructions: borrow empty vessels, shut the door behind herself and her sons, and begin pouring. The miracle continued until they ran out of containers!
The profound truth emerges that God's supply often exceeds our capacity to receive. "How many times have we caused the oil to stop flowing in our lives simply because we have not made ourselves available?" Pastor Lee asks, challenging listeners to create more space for God's work. The oil stopped flowing not because God's provision was limited, but because there were no more empty vessels.
What "jar of oil" might you be overlooking in your own life? What blessing awaits if you'd simply bring your small offering to God in faith? Listen as we discover how God doesn't just solve our immediate crises—He provides abundantly for our future when we trust Him with what little we have today.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week with your hosts, pastors Lee and Jim. It's time to inspire, uplift and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now.
Speaker 2:Hey, what's going on? Everybody, this is Pastor Lee and I'm here, as always with Pastor Jim, and we are the pastors of Christ Family Outreach Church, located in Amelia, virginia, and if you've not yet made your way out to us on a Thursday night recharge service or a Sunday morning church service, we want to see you Come on out, say hey, I'm a listener, and shake our hands, get to know us. We'd love to get to know you and put a face to the name Before we get going. Just got a couple of housekeeping items we want to take care of before we begin today's episode. Number one if you're on Instagram and you're not already liking our page or following our page, we want you to do so. You can do that by reaching out to us at BeyondSundaycfo on Instagram. Again, that's beyondsundaycfo. And number two I would just like to take a moment and say any financial gifts toward the podcast, if you are able to reach out and wanna be a financial blessing towards the work that God is doing here, we just wanna let you know that all financial gifts go towards this podcast and also towards our church expansion project.
Speaker 2:We've got a heart to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with as many people that we possibly can, and we are excited about building a bigger room in the efforts to house even more people. We want to see as many unsaved people come in so that they can receive the gospel message of Jesus Christ. And, as we've mentioned on this podcast before, you know, the church is just like a hospital. We are there for the sick and those in need. So if you feel compelled to give, if you feel the Spirit nudging you to give towards this work, towards this ministry, you can give by going on to our website at wwwcfochurchorg and click the giving button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. And we just want to say, both Pastor Jim and myself, we just want to say thank you in advance for any support that you're able to give towards the ministry of sharing God's Word with others. So, pastor Jim, good morning. How you doing, brother? Good morning.
Speaker 1:I'm doing well and you know. I just want to also add to that to say this If you're attending our church, you already know this you are our family. But I would say also, if you've found yourself listening to this podcast specifically and you don't regularly attend our church, maybe you have another church home. That's great and that's amazing. As long as they're teaching from the Word of God and they're not deviating from that truth, I'm happy just to know that you're in church. But what I want to say is you are, by extension, part of our family because you're here with us today listening to our podcast. So it's important for us to just say thank you. We really appreciate anyone who would listen, because our heart is simply this read the Word of God, talk about the Word of God and advance the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, brother, amen. Let's go ahead and get going. We're going to be reading in the Bible today from 2 Kings, chapter 4, 1 through 7.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and this is one of those passages that, when you read about it and this is the one that says you know what? Wow God is always working. Even when you don't see it, god is working, and I'm excited to read and get into this study. So grab your Bibles, find a quiet spot or, if you're driving, turn the volume up and let's get ready to explore God's Word together.
Speaker 2:Amen, here we go, friends. 2 Kings, chapter 4, 1 through 7,. And the Word of God, praising to our Lord, says this Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, your servant. My husband is dead and you know that your servant feared the Lord.
Speaker 2:But the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. And Elisha said to her what shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels, and not too few. Son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her there is not another. Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God and he said go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.
Speaker 2:I'd like to make this point, pastor Jim. According to the Hebrew law, the creditor would be able to take the debtor and their children as slaves if he wanted to. The creditor could not treat them as slaves, but they would have to be taken as slaves in order to work off the debt that was owed. So this is the position the widow finds herself in. Her husband, the provider of their home, he's passed away and they have zero income entering into the household.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that puts her, as a widow, in a really desperate situation. Right, the creditors are coming, they're going to take her sons as slaves and they're going to be ordered to pay off all of these debts debts in which, by the way, they don't have money to pay. That's right. So you know this verse. It's speaking to the reality of life's difficulties. We don't have to just look back then at this story to find out and apply it to our lives today. That's right.
Speaker 1:Right, a lot of times we have difficulties and sometimes, even when we're faithful to God, we can encounter these overwhelming challenges, and I bet that she was considering her situation overwhelming in that moment. But it is a reminder of this that we live in a fallen world, and even the righteous right, the righteousness that God puts on His people who believe in Him, can face hardships. But as we see in this story and we're going to continue to see as we dissect it is that one of God's provision is in the midst of their desperation. Right, no matter how difficult your situation may seem, no matter how difficult this situation may seem, god sees the need. The widow's faith was her connection to God's solution and, like her, we have to cry out to him when we face the storms in our own life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, the mother is faced, as you mentioned, with a debt, and it's a debt that she cannot possibly pay. And because it's a debt that she cannot possibly pay, I'm reminded of a debt that every one of us Pastor Jim, yourself, myself, everyone that's listening we've all had a debt that we could not pay as well. And in Colossians, chapter one, 13 through 14, paul writes this he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Amen, so so I had a debt in my life. I'll just make this personal. I had a debt in my life, as does every other person as well, that I could not pay, and Jesus Christ is the only one that can wipe my sins away and make me clean and whole again.
Speaker 2:This mother has come to the place where she realizes there's a debt hanging over her that she cannot afford to pay. She can't pay up, she can't run from it, she can't get away from it. This creditor has come, and so she does the right thing. Rather than act like the debts are not there, she begins to talk about it. She begins to talk about this problem to Elisha and so many people live feeling like they've got to run from this debt. They've got to run from this weight of sin, this sin debt, this feeling of knowing that they aren't living right, but they're still doing nothing about it, when they should be asking questions, asking for help and surrendering their life to Jesus so they can be set free from that debt.
Speaker 1:I love how you said asking for help, because that leads into verse 2 where Elisha says okay, you want help, what should I do for you? And there's this picture of God, right, what can I do for you? Yeah, you know, tell me what you have in the house. Let's look at what you have. And then the servant says nothing, lord, I got nothing, well, except for this jar of oil. Elijah responds by asking her what do you have? And her response to me, it just shows how empty and how vulnerable and how desperate she was. But then when she looks over, she says well, I do have this, something that maybe in her eyes seems insignificant, it's just a little jar of oil. That maybe in her eyes seems insignificant, it's just a little jar of oil. But see, that's how our God works.
Speaker 1:Often he works with what we have, no matter how little it may seem. It's different in God's eyes, because that small jar of oil in her house was the seed of God's provision. It's not about what you don't have, it's about what you do have and offering it to God for His use. We are simply to present ourselves useful and say Lord, all that I have is yours. And it may not seem much to us, but God will take it and he will use it and he will run with it and lives will change because of it, which is why we can take no credit for it. It's all honor and glory to Him.
Speaker 1:We may feel like we don't have enough to meet the needs of ourselves, or even to help other people, but God multiplies things, even the smallest offering, the widow that we're talking about today. She had faith in what she had left and God used all of it. So what do you have that God can use in your life? It could be a small act of faith, it could be a little bit of talent, it can be a seemingly insignificant resource, but God will take it, multiply it and use it for his good.
Speaker 2:It took a miracle, pastor Jim. It took a miracle from God. Okay for me, for you and for the widow to get up out of debt. And so the oil flowed for this mother, but it only flowed as a provision from the hand of God. So he had provided right. God had provided the one jar of oil already in this lady's life, and then he would also provide the increase and the overflow of oil as well to fill all of those jars.
Speaker 2:A second point that I'd like to take a look at here, brother, is the mother used what she had, and you just bought mention to that. She had already had a little jar of oil, and, just like Pastor Jim just did a moment ago, I'd like to encourage all of you, if you're a Christian, to use what you've already been given. Let the Holy Spirit of God that lives inside of you produce a work and a strength on the inside of you so you're able to face whatever is lying in front of you. 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, 19, tells us that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit of God living within us from God. So, friends, listen, if you're a Christian, I want to encourage you.
Speaker 2:Today You've already got some oil flowing on the inside of you, amen. So let God take that little bit of oil that you've got and let God use it for his glory today. You know God, here it is. I'm surrendering my life right now for your glory, and watch what God does with it. The mother she just had one jar and God goes on to keep filling every jar that she collected.
Speaker 1:But you got to do the work, you got to be willing to do the work. Verse three says go outside, borrow some vessels. See, it wasn't just hey, lord, this is what I have now. Now, multiply it. Nope, go outside, get some vessels, be willing to put in some work. And then he says make sure that they're empty vessels and not too few.
Speaker 1:Elisha's instructing her to gather as many empty vessels as she can from her neighbors. And I want to emphasize that word empty empty vessels, because God ain't going to fill vessels that are already full. They have to be empty to receive fresh oil, right? So what he's saying is and this is two parts If you come to him with junk in your life, he's got to. You have to empty that before him and say Lord, I want to turn from that, I want you to use me, I want to repent of my sin, I want to present myself empty to you to fill up with your oil. And then the second one is this once he fills up that oil, if you don't go out and pour it out, he's not refilling you with fresh oil.
Speaker 1:See, actions speak to faith and preparation. The widow is asked to make a space for God's provision. She's asked to prepare herself for something greater than what she could even imagine in the moment. Her faith is demonstrated in her obedience to go and gather those vessels and it's a clear principle God's going to fill whatever you make space for. But here's the catch If we only ask for a small amount, we may only receive a small amount. The oil stopped once they ran out of vessels. The number of vessels speak to the level of her faith and her preparation, which she was willing to invest. If we prepare our hearts and we prepare our minds, god will fill us abundantly. The question we have to ask ourselves is how much are we going to be ready to receive those blessings?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, pastor Jim, I think about how humbled this woman had to be. She really had to humble self because here she is, she's going door to door asking people for empty vessels. Right, and I could only imagine what some people are thinking. Because obviously the people in her area, in her town, they know her husband has died, they know that she's not working, she's not got a means of income to fill these empty vessels. You know. So why do you need empty vessels? You know what are you going to do with them? And so it's a great opportunity for you know a testimony to be given, because these empty vessels that she's collecting will be full. Not only are they going to be full, we know, at the end of the text it says that you know Elisha tells her to go out there and sell them, you know, so that they can have income.
Speaker 2:You know, I've been here before to a degree, you know, and maybe many of our listeners have as well, where we've had to humble self and go up to a neighbor's house and say, hey, I ran out of eggs and I don't have time to go to the store, but you know, I'm making this dish and I really need eggs in the recipe. Or you know I need a cup of milk, or I need you know I need some oil, you know for dinner, and you know we've run out. You know I've been there before. I've humbled myself and my sister and I we live in the same and I've had to call her and say, hey, you know I'm out of XYZ, can I get some help? You know.
Speaker 2:So it just makes me think about what these people are thinking and how this mother had to humble self. You know. So. Can you imagine this? You know this lady people knowing her husband has died, they know her situation, and here she comes knocking on doors asking them for empty containers. You know I do wonder what type of look she got. You know what the neighbors were thinking. Let me say this you expecting your overflow may not make sense to other people, maybe not even to some of the same people living under your roof. Okay, but don't let that keep you from planning on your overflow to show up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love how Elijah instructs her to go inside because, to your point, so oftentimes when we're out in public or out amongst other people, we can get distracted and we can miss what God wants to do in our lives.
Speaker 1:You see, elijah instructed her to go inside and shut the door behind her.
Speaker 1:Those are specific instructions that I don't want to just skip past, because I think it's signifying that the work of God is being perfected and effective in a private space, away from the distractions of the world, the oil flowing in the closed-off space, not in the noise of the outside world, and it's a reminder of spiritual growth, healing and provision.
Speaker 1:That happens in moments in the solitude and the intimacy of God. With God we speak a lot of having our quiet time and our quiet space, and I think it's so important because when we shut out the distractions and we are able to just focus on God, he begins to pour into us in ways that can't happen in other circumstances. God can pour into us anytime he wants, but I think that there's something about shutting the door behind us, away from the noise, away from the pressures, away from the distractions. God is going to do His deepest work, in those quiet moments and it's important for us to ask are we making time, that private space with God in the secret place, because he's going to fill us up to overflowing in those moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, man. You know. It says that she had all the jars filled and the oil only stops flowing because no more jars were made readily available. It brings me to this thought how many times have we caused the oil to stop flowing in our lives simply because we have not made ourselves available? How many times have we said no to God? You know that's it. You know that's enough.
Speaker 2:I stop here, I draw the line here, because we begin to get uncomfortable. Or maybe we're approaching uncharted waters or territories that God has never called us to walk through before, or maybe we simply don't want to invest any more time or resources in the moment, you know, and so we just we shut down, we begin to ignore what God is calling us to do and all of a sudden we go from a season of overflow to a time where the oil stops flowing. And I just want to tell you, friends, that that's not on God, that's on us. So this is the importance of what you were saying earlier, pastor Jim to make ourselves available. And we need to be readily available at any and all times, as Scripture says, both in season and out of season. I want my cup to fill up and run over, as Paul says, pour me out like a drink offering, so that, as I'm being poured out, the Spirit of God is continually being poured in.
Speaker 1:And the oil stopped, I think, where their faith stopped poured in. Yeah, the oil stopped. I think, where their faith stopped. You know, they only had enough faith to gather how many jars they gathered and then, once they filled them up, the oil stopped. So how many vessels are we bringing to God? How much space are we creating for God to work in our life? The flow of God's blessing in our life is often connected to how much faith and how much expectation we have. So don't stop believing or don't stop asking. Keep bringing fresh, new empty vessels for God to fill up.
Speaker 1:And you know, as we get ready to wrap this episode up, I want to just land on this final point from verse 7. The word says she came and told the man of God and he said Go and sell the oil and pay your debts. This is the piece, right here, I want to key in on. And you and your sons can live on the rest. So Elisha's instructing her here to sell the oil and pay her debts, but then he goes live on the rest.
Speaker 1:Not only is her immediate crisis God coming in delivering her from, she's also set up financially to have a stability in life and a provision for her future. You know, the final verse is about God's abundance in his provision. The oil was not just enough to pay off debts. It was more than enough. It sustained her and her family. God's blessing overflowed in ways that sometimes we can't even expect or even envision. God's provision is always more than enough to meet our needs. He doesn't provide just for the immediate crisis, he provides for our future, and so we want to obey God and we want to trust God, because he will set us up for a life of abundance. Are you trusting God in this moment, right now, in the short term, or are you trusting Him for your entire future moment?
Speaker 2:right now, in the short term, or are you trusting him for your entire future? Yeah, you know, the mother ends up being set free from her debts simply because of God's provision. And just like we said at the beginning of this episode, friends, god has provided his only begotten son, jesus Christ, so that you, right now, in this moment, and for the rest of your life, into eternity, can be set free from your sin as well. Amen, father. We just lift up every listener out there in this moment, god, that they would have a heart to want to line up with your word, your truth. Father, that they would see the need and the purpose for being set free from any and all debt in their life.
Speaker 2:Father, that tries to hold them back, this sin debt. Lord, we thank you that the blood of Jesus has washed clean our filthy rags. So, lord, we lift this day up to you and I pray, in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ, that all that we've talked about today day up to you, and I pray, in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ, that all that we've talked about today, all that we've read from your scripture today, father, would just hit good soil and take root and we wouldn't just keep it for ourselves, but we would share it with other people as well, because, just like we were once in debt, there's other people out there that need the good news of Jesus Christ shared with them, so they can become debt-free as well. In Jesus' name and blood, everybody, my friends said together amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Well, we thank you for listening to another episode of Beyond Sunday. Here's what I'll leave you with this question right here how many vessels are you willing to bring to God, not just today, but for the rest of your lifetime? God bless you.
