God's Unique Way of Providing for our Needs
1 Kings 17:8-24
1st God is the source of all of our provision
1 Kings 17:8-9a (ESV)
Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there.
1 Kings 16:31 (MSG)
It wasn't enough for him to copy the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat; no, he went all out, first by marrying Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then by serving and worshiping the god Baal.
1 Kings 17:8-9 (ESV)
Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
2nd God’s provision requires faith
1 Kings 17:8-9 (ESV)
Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath,
1 Kings 17:10 (ESV)
So he arose and went to Zarephath.
1 Kings 17:10 (ESV)
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
1 Kings 17:11 (ESV)
And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."
1 Kings 17:12 (ESV)
And she said, "As the Lord your God lives,
1 Kings 17:12 (ESV)
And she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die."
1 Kings 17:13-14 (NLT)
And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward 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 gives rain on the land.”
3rd God provides for those who are willing to release what they have
Luke 6:38 (NIV)
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Luke 6:38 (NIV)
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
1 Kings 17:15-16 (NLT)
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 Elijah.
4th God provides big answers to big problems when we fervently pray
1 Kings 17:17-18 (NIV)
Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
1 Kings 17:19-21 (NIV)
give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!"
1 Kings 17:22-23 (NIV)
The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"
