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Good morning, everybody. Good morning and good morning. It is a blessing to be in the house of the Lord, and it is a blessing to be able to bring this word to you guys. Before we get started, I just want to say thank you. Uh honor pastor and Lisa for the opportunity to stand before and bring this word. Let us be praying for them in their absence. We want God to bring our pastor and wife and their family back safely. And then we, I'm gonna ask you guys if you can stand for the reading of our word. Our word today comes out of the Old Testament, 1 Kings 17, verses 1 through 16. But while we're standing, we're just going to read verses 1 through 6. Verses 1 through 6. Now Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishbi in Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kareth ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kareth ravine east of the Jordan and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Let us pray. Father God, thank you. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. In Jesus' name. Amen. Our text opens this morning with a dire sentence being issued to northern Israel, which at that time was being led by Ahab. King Ahab had enticed or had led the children of Israel to worship false idols in Baal, even though God had warned them many times against it. And so the Lord allowed a famine. There was a famine that lasted for three years in the region. There was a lack of water. And anytime there is a lack of water, there is a lack of need. The children of Israel's primary means of survival was growing crops and raising cattle, raising herds, goats, and sheep. And if there's not a lack of water, then that means the crops can't grow, and that means that the herd can't get the water that they need and every living thing needs water. When there is a lack of crops and a lack of herd, that means there's not enough food to eat. And when there's not enough food to eat, there is a famine. The famine had grown so bad in northern Israel that the cost of food was so expensive that the people didn't have enough food to eat and they couldn't, they didn't have enough money to buy the food they needed. There was a famine. It had gotten so bad that even some of the people had begun to eat other people. It's in the text. We all are familiar, if we're in this room, with famines. The Great Depression of 1929. There was a shortage in our area. Maybe not a full famine, but a shortage in the land. Come a little bit closer. History records that there have been over 23 recessions in our land alone since the Great Depression. Come a little closer. Most of us have lived through COVID. A time when all of our, when many of our businesses, many of our people had to go home, businesses had to shut down because of the of the pandemic. We couldn't get staple items that we needed in our grocery stores. And it wasn't necessarily because the food couldn't be processed. The people had been sent home, the people were sick. There weren't even enough workers to get the food to the shelves. And just like in northern Israel, our prices skyrocketed. The cost of eggs was about $4 for the big two and a half two and a half dozen one week, and the very next week it had gone up to $7. So the we are familiar with shortages. Y'all bear with me. Even with the price of Hershey's chocolate chips. Y'all know I like to bake. The price used to be $2. And then the price increased so much, it's about $5 now for one bag. And I said, God is gonna get us to eat fruits and vegetables one way or another. And then there's a shortage of jobs in the market. And so I don't know about everybody else, but I am one somebody who was just waiting for COVID to end, waiting for COVID to end so that the cost of living could go back down and the food prices would return to pre-COVID prices. But not only did they not return to pre-COVID prices, for one reason or another, the price of the cost of living and the price of food continues to increase. Whatever fancy word they're using it for this year, what it amounts to is less jobs and less income for people. And then to make matters worse, here comes AI. And AI is replacing many of the job functions that people are used to doing. Many people now are on their jobs worried about when is my job going to be cut. I'd like to speak today from the topic how to navigate victoriously through shortage times. Number one, we must settle who God is. I believe that there are multiple categories that we fall in of who we think God is. First category: some of us are still at the point where we don't believe that God exists. Some of us are at the point that we're calling him a higher power. Even though God has proven that he's not just a higher power. We have watched him raise us, we have watched him keep us, we have watched him. We believe it for different reasons. Some of the reasons is well, he's not doing things the way we think he ought to do them. Well, God gives us free will, and we take our free will and we make decisions with our free will, we see the consequences of our free will, and then we get mad at God because he allowed us to do what we wanted to do. Sometimes it's about the phenomena. We say that there are some things and the scientists are being able to explain them, not really realizing that the phenomena and the scientist who's trying to explain them away wouldn't exist if it weren't for God. We are going to have to settle who God is. We have to settle who God is. And then the second category of people, here are the people who believe that he's God. Yes, there is a God. Well, just as long as he's doing what I want him to do. There's a God. As long as my money is right, as long as I can buy the houses that I want to buy, I can go where I want to go, as long as I can do all the things that I want to do, he's God. I like to call this group of people teeter-totarus. But when he's when he doesn't do what I want him to do, well then I'm tottering this way.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

All right.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Teeter totterus. He's only God as long as he's doing what I want him to do, how I want him to do it, when I want him to do it. And now let me back up to this. To say, to me, this is by Vika, to say that there is no God, or, well, you know, he does some of the things that, you know, I I won't say it's God, but it's a higher, I'll say it's a higher power. That's like going in the store to buy peanut butter and looking at the jar of peanut butter and saying, well, you know, it's brown. It's creamy. You know, they can put it on some bread with some jelly. Uh-huh. They can make some peanut butter cookies, but I don't know if I would call it peanut butter. But then we get back over here to the teeta totterers, and you're teeter tottering back and forth, and then Satan comes along, cheerleading. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, what kind of God is that anyway? He might not be real. And guys, if we're not careful, Satan will cheerlead us right back over here to the peanut butter phase. Saying, well, I don't I don't know if he's God. I don't know. We must settle who God is. Then there's the group of people who believe that he is Yahweh. But we just put him on a shelf until it's convenient for us. Well, God, I need you to do this for me. I'm done. God, I want you to do this for me. I'm done. And we have got to get to the point where we realize that God is not someone who marches to the beat of our drums. Rather, we should be marching to the beat of his drums. No more teeter-tottering. And we have to settle who God is. And then the last category: these are the people who believe that he's God, he's almighty, he's Yahweh, he's self-existing. But then we box him. Oh, he can raise Lazarus, but he can't raise me. He can heal somebody else, but he can't heal me. He can get somebody else a job and move them up their career ladder. Oh, but he can't help me. We're putting God in a box, and we have to get to the point where we understand and where we accept that he's a sovereign God. He can do all things. We must settle who God is by faith. We must settle that God is Lord of Lord and He's kings of kings. We must settle. We must settle by faith that He creates the creator of the heavens and the earth. He's the healer. He's the Redeemer. He's the one who comforts me when I'm broken. He's the one who raises me when I've been beat down. He's He's everything. He is God the Father, He's God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one God and three persons. We must settle who God is. Look at Hebrews 11:6a. And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists. That word for God there is the Greek word theos. It translates to God the Creator, owner of all things, sustainer of all things. We must settle who God is because in the time of shortage, if we have not settled who God is, we will have the tendency to run to ourselves, we'll run to the world, we'll run and begin doing things. Drinking, sex, partying, fixing things on our own, running to our friends, and then they can't tell us. And then when it all blows up in our face, we come back over here and we're saying, Well, I don't know. You know, well, God, why did you? Why did you do it? Why did you allow it? When the truth is we never gave him a chance, and we never gave him a chance because we never settled who God is. We must settle who God is. Verse 5, Elijah settled who God is. So he did what the Lord had told him. He settled who God is. Number two, we must settle who we are. We hear more and more on social media and even from some of our leaders that we're not good enough. We hear sometimes it's not social media, sometimes it's our friends. It's people. We're not good enough. Sometimes it's our circumstances screaming to us, we're not good enough, because if we were, why would we be in the position that we're in? But take a look at Genesis 126 and A. 126A. Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. There was a conversation about us. We didn't just arrive. Of all the things God could have made us like the birds, the sea creatures, other animals, the trees, the plants, of all the things He could have made us like, He made us in His image and His likeness. You are good. You are smart, you are intelligent, you are strong, you are worthy to do whatever God has called you to do. Now, when I was preparing a sermon, God told me to say this, and I was like, You want me to say that? Please allow me to lay myself bare. I used to be afraid to stand in the pulpit. I didn't think I was good enough. I didn't think I was articulate enough. I didn't think I could use some of the fancy words like the preachers use sometimes. I didn't think I deserve to be here because you know what? I know where the places I've been. I know the things I've done. I know the things I've said. But you know what? God had to pull me to the side and teach me. He made me in his own image, in his own likeness. So I'm qualified because he qualified me. He qualified me before the foundations of the earth, before I got here. And so there are some of you out there who may be thinking I'm not good enough. I messed up. You are qualified because God qualified you. Let's look at Romans 8, 1 and 2. Let me let y'all lean on a little secret. Do you know that everybody who has ever lived, and everybody who is living, and everybody who's ever gonna live has been some places, has done some things, has said some things. But in Christ Jesus, Romans 8, 1 and 2 says, therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. So in Christ Jesus, if God is not condemning you, why are you allowing other people to condemn you? If God is not condemning you, why are you allowing your circumstances to condemn you? And if God is not condemning you, why are you condemning you? We must settle who we are. How to navigate victoriously through shortage times. Number three, do what God tells you to do, say what God tells you to say. Ma League, Ma He Lua of China is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the person who toppled the most dominoes in a single-handed attempt. 303,621 dominoes, this person set up by themselves and then toppled them over. But you want to know the thing about those dominoes? The second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, all the way to the 300 third,621 could not have fallen if the first one hadn't fallen. The first domino was the catalyst. And oftentimes when we're navigating the victoriously, I'm just gonna call it through shortage times, God will use a catalyst to start the process of our resolution. He told, he told Elijah, go to the river and I'm going to have the ravens come and bring you some food. Now, y'all, the issue with this is, but maybe not for you, maybe for me, but the issue with this is we often question what the resolution looks like. We question what the delivery is gonna be. So this is Vavika. This might not be y'all, y'all might be more advanced, more mature in the body of Christ than I am. But I'll be like, well, I mean, I gotta be by the river. Is it gonna be a tent? Now, God, when you say ravens, do you mean like a legion of angels that are called ravens and the angels are gonna bring me food like angel eats? Or when you say ravens, do you mean like ravens, ravens? Like fly in the air, flap your wings, pick up food with your dirty beat, ravens. So tell me now what ravens? What ravens are you talking about? But we have to learn to trust God in the process. God said, I'll send the ravens to the river. So if God says go to the river, Elijah had to go to the river. He wasn't going to be able to get his navigation for victory, his food, whatever he needed, unless he went to the river. Don't be afraid to go to the river. Let's see verses 7 through 16. Verses 7 through 16. Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him. Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. So he went to Zarephath, asked, he went to Zarephat. When he came to the town gate, when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her. And he asked, Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called, and by the way, bring me, please, a piece of bread. 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. Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 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. 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. 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 the prophet. And so all that I said that's good, y'all might be saying, but yeah, that was Elijah. He was a whole prophet. Well, let's talk about the widow. Her catalyst was to give when she did not have. And sometimes, in order to get your resolution from God so that you can live victoriously, even in famine times, God may say, give something that you don't really have to give. Now, to the average person, the text is saying, give what you don't have. But you know what God is doing. God is teaching her how to activate a principle that He set in place before the foundations of the earth. You reap what you sow. You reap what you sow. So it may not make sense to everybody. Sometimes the weight of what we're going through is so heavy. It bears us down. Sometimes we can't think. I don't know about y'all but me. Sometimes you can't think straight. And you go to the Lord and He tells you what to do. He knows the principles He's set in place. He knows what He's done. Do the thing that He says to do, even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it doesn't make sense. So look what else the Lord did for, look what else He did for the widow. She not only had enough food because she obeyed God, she had enough food. At the beginning of the passage, we were talking about the widow and her son. At the end of the passage, verse 15, she went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the one. And her family. But look, I looked it up because that word family was just it, it was just, you know, it was on me. I looked it up. Y'all family means household. When she started at the beginning, her household didn't have anything to give to her. She said, I'm going to make a meal for me and my son, and then we're going to die. When we got to the end, her household has changed because now Elijah is living with her, but now she has food for her, her son Elijah, and all the people who couldn't support her. Let me tell you, in the body of Christ and in the world, everybody's not going to get God's principles. But God is looking for somebody who will follow what He's telling them to do. Because He's not just trying to save you, He's trying to save the people around you as well. And He's going to use your overflow to help somebody else. Let's look at Elijah. This isn't in the text, so you're just going to have to read it when you get home. Verse 17. Verses 17 to the end of the chapter. The woman's son gets sick. She gets sick. The son dies. The woman is upset. Because Elijah's there. He's a whole man of God. And you done let my son die. Elijah goes to the Lord. Elijah says, You don't let this woman child die, and I'm right here. And then the Lord tells him what to do. He goes and he lays himself on the child. He calls out to the Lord. And the Lord raises the son from the dead. Hear me. When we met Elijah, he was going to the brook to get some food from ravens. We get to this end, God is using him to raise somebody from the dead. Sometimes the famine is not meant to hurt us. Sometimes God is using the famine to grow us to a new level. I used to be able to do this. I used to be able to trust God for this, but now God is teaching me how to raise people. Now He's teaching me how to do this over here. It's a whole new thing. Alright, my last point. Another little secret. It's just a perception. Do you all know that in the body of Christ or in the kingdom of God, there is no famine? It doesn't matter what they're saying on social media. It doesn't matter what the president, the presidents of the countries are saying. It doesn't matter what our friends are saying. It doesn't matter what the people say as they're laying us off from their job. Oh, I'm so sorry. It does not matter what happens in the natural land because in the kingdom of God, there is no shortage. There may be a shortage of us going to God. There may be a shortage of us identifying who He is, settling who God is, settling who we are. But there is no shortage of resources in the kingdom of God. You know what I see happening in this text? God is rearranging resources. He's getting resources in the hands of the people who can do his will. He's using this to get us to the next level. There's no shortage in the kingdom of God. So what level? What is your next level? No matter what you're going through, what is your next level? Who is it that God is using? Because the people are watching. They're watching the people who say they're believers to see how they operate in the body of Christ. Who's watching you? Who is God using you to lead to Him? Let us pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. And we thank you. God, please encourage us. Please encourage the people that no matter what it's looking like, you are not short of anything because you are the owner of all things. You are the sustainer of all things. Help us to trust you. We cannot believe that you are going to invest everything you've invested in us, creating us in your own image and likeness. And then when we need you, you tell us to do something that's going to destroy us. That's not God. That's how Satan works. Lord God, help us to turn to you, to spend time with you so that we can be clear on who you are. And that your love never ends for us. We can accomplish, we can be used by you to accomplish what you have us to accomplish during this time. In Jesus' name. Amen.