Pas Ralph Douglas West - The Miracle of the Oil - 2 Kings 4:1-7

1:58 You can control the length of this sermon this morning by answering one question. Do you have a problem? It's apparent that I will use all of the time remaining now because I'm in a room of people who have no problem. If you had answered I have a problem, then I would have said you are a candidate for a miracle.

2:38 Miracles are preceded by problems. No problem, no miracle. For every miracle that you trace through the scripture where God sovereignly intervenes in human affairs, reverses human conditions, overthrows issues beyond your control, they all are preceded by some problem. There's a problem candidate to be a miracle. I'm just looking at this. Now you're going to talk on the phone walking out the church. They need a miracle. miracle is always followed by a problem. At the feeding of the multitude, Jesus asked a question to his disciples, what do you have in your hand?

3:44 Two fish, insufficient in the face of 5,000, not counting women and children, and yet your problem in God's hand equals miracle. A woman with an issue, blood problem. She spends every dime in her desperate condition. Never does she grow better. She's always worse. and it's only when she touches the hem of the garment problem does her faith make her whole. You want a miracle? Tell God she got a problem. And you'll be a candidate for God to do something extraordinary in your life. This text that I read to you is beloved by many.

4:43 new to others. And yet it's one of those stories that we revisit throughout the church to remind us that God still works miracles. That God can start with a problem and say that I can turn your problem into a miracle. It begins with the death of one of the servants who serves God in the company of the prophets. This prophet has worked with God and has been a mouthpiece for our Lord and now his tent has folded and he has moved upstairs. He has left a wife, now a widow, two sons who are up for grabs to be sold into enslavement in a sense that they will be the ones who will work off the debt, the pay that her husband has left behind.

5:50 You can almost see her sitting at the kitchen table where the envelopes of bills are piling up. AT&T MasterCard relying on energy from the car or the carriage that she'll be patrolled around in. And now the bills are mounting. Death leads to demand that she knows that there is a man of God in the community who can deal with her desperation. Desperation caused by death. And there she is left and in need, in need of some deliverance. That's the outline there if you want it. death demand desperation and deliverance God works in that kind of formula that's where God moves in your human situation you don't have to talk about the lady here in Kings you can put your name there that is if you got a problem now if you don't have a problem of any sort And all problems are not financial issues.

7:05 They're not physical. Sometimes they're just emotional. Other times you just need God to give you comfort where there's discomfort. Sometimes you need peace in a world filled with so much confusion. And here this lady finds herself in this very place of desperation. The result of some death, a hope, a dream deferred. some kind of issue that has occurred, and here she is. When you read 2 Kings 4, it sounds very much like 1 Kings chapter 17, doesn't you? Remember Elisha, our prophet, wears the mantle of Elijah in 1 Kings. You remember the one word that has been given to Elisha when he puts on the mantle of Elijah and that is he would receive a double portion of the prophet's blessing.

8:05 When you look at Elijah in chapter 17 in 1 Kings, he too meets a widow woman in Zarephath. He's the subject of concern. He's traveled over 100 miles northwest as a desert brand prophet. And we arrive there, he comes with the message that God will meet your needs through the hand of the most unlikely source on the planet. It's a woman there, a widow, and all she has in her house is enough meal to make a pancake. To cook it for she and her son, they will eat it and die. And then what you're to do is to ask her this. Just say, make me, or make this demand, make me a cake first, and then you and your son can eat. What an insensitive word from the prophet to ask the lady that all she has is enough for some hot water cornbread.

9:09 One piece for her and her. I can tell y'all didn't grow up, but anyway, hot water cornbread is when you don't have all the ingredients to make the cornbread, have to put in the oven and you got to take a shortcut. And so, so, so that there's enough for you to make a, some hot water, a hot cake, a flapjack. You know, it must be nice being rich as a baby, you know, that you don't relate to none of this. And here, make enough for you and your son to eat and die. And here the preacher asks, yeah, I got that, but make sure you cook one for me first and then prepare for yourself. And God works in that way in that home. Now, the double portion is, is that Elisha sees a widow, but her trouble is double. She has two sons.

10:16 they're up for grabs for enslavement and in her case all she has is some jar jar of olive oil that's all she has in the house and not a lie shut like a lie jar says to her what do you have in the house and she says nothing king james but a jar of oil she got a problem but the miracle doesn't happen until you learn what side of the but you're going to live on because if you're living this morning on the side of saying I have nothing but but a jar of oil then you ain't got no problem yet but if you're on the side of I have nothing then God says that's all I want from you is for you to tell me that I'm up against the wall that I don't have nothing because that's what I work in. I specialize in things that seem impossible and I can do what no other power can do.

11:23 God works. And here we can put these two stories together. And that is on one hand, it begins with the uniqueness of God. But in 2nd King, the uniqueness of God is transferred into a God that can do it all over again. The word would be reclamation. That is, if God did it in the past, God can do it right now. If God did it in your before, God can do it in your after. If God did it in Genesis, he can do it in Exodus. If he did it in Exodus, he can do it in Numbers. If he did it in Numbers, he can do it in Deuteronomy. Whatever it is that God has done, God can do it again. It's the reality this morning to have a God that is able to reclaim, that God is able to do it again. I used to say to the church when I was much younger, and I think it bears record for you today, is that one reason people, and I mean this, don't get excited with this kind of story anymore, is because you don't keep a faith file.

12:36 You don't have a religious law. Not just your memory, but you ought to take a story like this and put into the margin your initials and then claim the promise that the next time you find yourself in a situation of desperation that you know if God did it for her, God can do it for me. This is not something to play with. This is no joking matter. That is, God wants to know, do you have memory enough to recall what I did in your life 20 years ago? Don't you know if I did it 30 years ago? Don't you know if I did it for your mama? Don't you know if I did it for your grandma? Don't you know I saw you when you were orphaned when your mother died?

13:36 You don't think that I saw you. You think I abandoned you. I gave your daddy what he needed in order to raise you the right way. Don't you know when your father left, I knew that I could supply your deed? Don't you know if I did it in the past, I can do it in the present? And if I do it in the present, I can do it in your future. Preach Pastor West.

14:05 That's why we read these stories. It's a reclamation and a reminder that the God that we worship is not some way off oblong deity that's up there twiddling his finger. But he's an ever present in the time of trouble, in the time of need. that God, don't you know, God know if you are here where your child is over there, don't you know that if you're sick, God is still a doctor that's never, don't you know that? But you can't know that if you don't keep a file down. These are some new preaching Bibles I have. I haven't had a chance to write in them. But again, this is, members, if you've been here, they know one of the practices I have is that I write in the back page of my Bibles the names of different people that I've prayed for.

15:10 and I put in there problems or desperation and then I put in that deliverance and sometimes at the end of the year normally in December I'll just pick up different Bibles and I'll go through there and watch the people some have folded up their tent now and they've moved on upstairs but I go through those names and I watch people and say I remember that problem and then I look at the side and I remember their miracle. I remember their desperation, but I also remember their deliverance. Here in this story, this woman now finds herself in a situation and she makes a demand in a desperation to the prophet Elisha. And Elisha simply asked, chapter verse two, what do you have in the house?

16:03 And her response to him is that I have, you know, nothing but a jar of oil. And I assume Elisha is saying that's enough to work with. We don't need much more than that. All God needs is something to work with. Maybe, maybe this is a preview of the words of Jesus when he says, how big is your faith? And people were looking for some mountainous faith. He said, I don't need that much to work with. All I need is faith, the size of a mustard seed. And then you say, but you almost need a magnifying glass to see a mustard seed. He says, yeah, that's all right. You need a magnifying glass, but I am the magnifier. I can take what little you have and I can turn it into much. Here this lady says, well, all I have is nothing.

17:01 You grammarians can work with that. And all I have is nothing on one side except for a jar of oil. And then this is what Elisha asked the lady to do. Says, now what I need you to do, I'm going to allow you to set limitation on how you want God to work. Here's your instruction. Go collect some jars. And don't ask me to start explaining to you all the whys behind these jars Just go get some jars You got a jar of olive oil, now go get you some jars You know what olive oil, how expensive it is, how it's used, how it's manufactured And you have just a jar of that Now, that's all you got between death and desperation That's all you got is a jar of oil, that's it And once that jar is gone, it's up, it's over with.

18:01 And that's it. That's the end of the story for you, for your sons. But go collect some jars, go next door and just ask, do you have any empty jars? And people had jars just scattered around and some was around. And I guess by this time, one of the sons says, prophet, how many jars should I collect? we gather say well how many blessings do you want do you you want a day blessing go get one if you want a week blessing go get seven if you want a month blessing go get me 30 plus if you want a year blessing give me 365 if you want more than that just collect all the jars you can get that's all i need just go collect and i can see they start collecting jars everywhere. Some of them were in people houses. Others have been junked outside. Some they had to dust off, but they're collecting all these jars. But you know, I can imagine when people saw that, they started laughing at these people collecting jars because normally when God is doing something in your life that nobody else knows about, it looks funny to them.

19:17 But it ain't funny to us who's saying, I got a desperation. And God says, I can't deliver until you do what I asked you to do. Now they've collected all the jars. Now wait, something else happens. Something happens. He says, now go inside, you and your sons, and shut the door behind you. I got to stop there. Because one of the things I argue with God about in the scripture is why he's not more public about what he does in the life of people initially. Lee. Let me say it again. One of the arguments when I'm reading the scripture is with God and his methods in preparing miracles for people and keeping it away from folk at a certain time. I see you look confused. So Jairus has a daughter. Jairus comes to Jesus and said, my daughter is sick. Would you come heal her? On his way, on Jesus' way to answer the cry of desperation, a woman with a desperation touches his garment. And then she gets healed and the delay is followed by the death of Jairus' daughter.

20:50 And this is what they say. Thank you, Jesus, for consenting to come. But my daughter has died. Therefore, you don't have to come to the house. Jesus said, wait, wait a minute. Didn't you ask me to come to your house? I want you to know I don't deal just with 12 year old diseases I can also Deal with the death of a 12 Year old daughter Time is your issue it ain't Mine Time is filled with swift transition None on earth Unmoved shall stand Build your hopes on These eternal and hold God's unchanging hand Are you holding my hand? Yes.

21:41 He said, well, let's go to the house. And then there were people who were looking at Jesus at the house. And what does he tell the disciples? Come in and shut the door. See, that's what I don't like. Because I want God to get back at everybody that laughs at him. And Jesus reminds me repeatedly, I'm not on no platform performing for nobody. I don't have to perform for you to believe who I am. I woke you up this morning. And if that's not evidence enough, a miracle behind the door ain't going to do it. I say, you ain't got it yet. So when Jesus is crucified and he gets up on Easter, I want Jesus to go to Pilate's house. I want him to go to Herod's palace.

22:46 I want him to go to Caiaphas temple and just walk in there. And I really want him to do it while they're eating breakfast so they can gag on their morning meal. And Jesus has to remind me, Wes, you're being cheap. Don't worry about that. Because if they didn't believe me, if they didn't believe me when everything was going well, they ain't going to believe me now that I got up. You still don't get it. Luke 16. Jairus or rather Lazarus and Dives. You got two people, rich and poor. One dies who is rich and has lived sumptuously throughout life.

23:43 And he's in the eternities. He's down at the rung of detente inferno. And then you got another a poor man in the bosom of Abraham. He suffered through life, but now in eternity, he's inheriting all that God has prepared for. That's no excuse for us not to make the world a better place. This is a parable that Jesus is now giving instructions to. And the man who was rich on planet Earth said these words, can I go back and tell my brothers, don't do like I did, don't come this way. And Jesus said, you're wasting your breath. They didn't believe me when Jesus was on earth.

24:39 They didn't believe me when I was opening the eyes of blind people. They ain't going to believe if somebody else come here. You see, miracles are not designed to try to build the faith of an unbeliever. Miracles are reminders to you of God's faithfulness in your life. God's not trying to convince the unbeliever through no miracle. You got a chance for that this morning. Either you believe or you don't believe. And stop trying to make your best friend believe what you believe. If they don't want to believe it, let them live in disbelief. Pray for them, love them, and keep on telling them. But for me, in my house, priest passed away. Shut the door.

25:32 They shut that door. And then they said, well, here we go. I'm done now. I'm just having fun now. My soul is happy now. I've been through after the main point of the sermon. And so now they're behind the door and say, here we go, this is it. And mama uncapped that little olive oil and started pouring in the smallest jar she could find. And she poured and that little quart got full and said, give me another jar. She said, give me a pint, give me a pint. And there she was, started pouring and said, oh, Lord, never seen nothing like this before. And said, wait a minute, it won't stop.

26:29 Give me another jar. And said, give me a half a gallon. And just start pouring and just sitting there. And it's something about miracles that change your disposition. It's something about when you know God Can show up It puts you in a comfort zone Now I'm serious I need one or two people I ain't talking about just no I ain't just talking about no amen I need somebody who's experienced God's miracle Who can truly say That when God does a miracle It changes your disposition Because it's something about knowing that God is able to do something that takes the panic out of your face. This only happened to me twice. One morning in October, I was preaching and we were on bingo.

27:27 One of the young girls in our church had an aneurysm and I was getting ready to preach and I made my way over to the hospital in between the 10 and the noon service. And when I got there, the doctors had already said, you know, there's no recovery from this. I've never said this but twice in all my ministry. When I walked through the door and she was out, I had to get to 12 and that's what I said. I got to get to noon. I said, but I want you to know this, that God just told me she going to be all right. And I said, I ain't talking about all right in the afterlife. I'm talking about all right.

28:21 That's only, I've only had that experience twice in my life. I wish I could tell you that God talked to me like that all the time, but he doesn't. But that one time was enough for me to know that God is able to show up and do what no other power can do. And that girl is up and moving right now in this city. I'm here to tell you that God can work a miracle. And the miracle changes your disposition. So when everything else is falling apart, when stuff don't look good, and you're saying, Pastor West, don't seem concerned. I am concerned.

29:15 But there ain't no need me pulling the little hair I got left out of my head. I learned how to trust in Jesus and to trust in the Lord. So they kept on pouring. And kept on pouring. And kept on pouring. Here's my last point. Only you can set the limit of how much you want God to bless you. I don't care how good you're doing. I don't care how much money you got in your pocket. You ought to always leave at least one jar empty. So that when God's come by your house. you can say I got room for one more blessing. I ain't mean to go that far.

30:07 I know y'all ain't here for that but I'm going to stop right there. But my soul is happy. Oh yes it is. My soul is happy. Because I watch children of God walk around with their head hung down and forgetting that God is able to make a way out of nowhere. I'm here to tell you God is able did you even I said he's able to make the way when there is no way oh that's just that old preacher stuff that day he just trying to get us on our feet you can