Sometimes in life, we
are waiting for a breakthrough- maybe in the area of health, finances, etc.
most people are looking for it- to see something supernatural. Most people
would say that breakthrough is related to finances. We will look at an account in the Old
Testament where there was a lady who wanted a breakthrough. These things are
written as an example for us.
1 kings 17- there was a lady who lived in
Zaripah. She was a widow, she had a son and they didn’t have enough food to
eat. She just had a little flour and oil.
After that, they had nothing else. Do you think she needed a
breakthrough.
Maybe you are also in a bad situation this
morning. Let’s look at what happened.
This is the background- 1 Kings- Ahab received
a word from God through Elijah that there won’t be any rain till he orders it.
Then, Elijah was fed and looked after by ravens. They brought him food.
Then God asks him to go to Zaripah where he
commanded a widow to provide for him.
“Some
time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 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.””
A piece of bread was too much to give for her.
““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.”
So, she needed a
breakthrough. God
provided her with an opportunity for a breakthrough. Elijah asks her to first
make a small cake of bread for him. Here is the test. First, give me a piece of
bread. Then he gives her the promise- “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.” Elijah asks her to
give him the little. The Lord is going to give you enough to sustain her till
the rain comes. The widow could have asked for him to first bless her. When you
have stacks of bread at home, giving something out of that is no big deal. Giving when you don’t have it, that’s faith.
This widow had faith.
Elijah- God would have
provided by other means. It wasn’t Elijah who was in need. It was the widow’s opportunity for
breakthrough. The miracle took place! They ate and survived for a long time.
They had abundance for a couple of years. That
wasn’t the end of her blessing.
In Verses 17-24- “Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill.
He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 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?” “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. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy
even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he
stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord
my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 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!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know
that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the
truth.””
If the woman turned
Elijah away, her son would have died and there would have been no resurrection. She received in kind, sowed in
bread, and received bread, but also breakthrough in her son’s life.
If you’re looking for a breakthrough, give
sacrificially and generously.
Q. How should we give?
In everything we do, we want to be biblical. We
can give to just fulfill an obligation. This money goes towards uplifting the poor, meeting the needs of
the poor, education, preaching the gospel, to
fight human trafficking, to meeting our own needs, leadership training,
development and making disciples, strengthening marriages, etc.
Q. So how do we give
biblically?
1.
Give passionately- passion has everything to do with
giving. John 3:16-God is a giver. Everything we have comes from God. He gave
his son to die for us, because of love. Our giving needs to be accompanied with
much love. In 1 Cor 13:3- “If I give all I possess to the poor and give
over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing.” Love, that’s the way to give.
2. Give proportionately- The amount is not as important as the proportion. It’s how much you’re
keeping back. For some people, 10000 rupees may seem like a big amount. But it
depends on who is doing the giving. Mark
12:41- 44 “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. But a
poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow
has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their
wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
The key thing here is that Jesus was watching and keeping track of all that was
happening. Imagine a father taking his son out to McDonalds, orders a nice
burger, fries and coke. Then the father goes and asks for a French fry and he
says, no! We are all born inherently selfish. Kids do that, saying it’s mine.
But the father is the source of that wonderful meal. The child has not realized
that the father can just take it away and can buy himself ten such things
without thinking. The father is asking to teach the child to give. So let’s
give proportionately.
3. Give generously- This is New Testament giving- like Mary
and the alabaster Jar. The Jar was worth one year’s wages. Zaccheus, when Jesus came into his life, he
gave half of his possessions to the poor. That is generous giving. Barnabus sold the land he had and put
it at the apostle’s feet. This is New
Testament giving.
4. Give Sacrificially- David is offered by Araunah to take his stuff and offer to God. But
David says, I can’t offer what does not cost me anything. Ask yourself, is this
costing me? That is the attitude with which we give. Those who sow in tears
will reap in joy. There is a cost in
giving. The Macedonian churches, their extreme poverty welled up in riches.
How does that happen?
5. Give in faith-
Give believing that God will do something with my giving. In the Bible there is
a principle of sowing and reaping. If you want to get bananas, sow bananas, to
get apples, sow apple seeds. Genesis says, as long as the earth endures, sowing
and reaping does not change. As you sow
money, you get back money and you get much more! It is an act of faith.
Paul reminds us this- whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and
whoever sows generously, you will reap generously. God promises to give us
abundantly.
1 tim 6:18-19- Paul says, talking about the rich,
“Command them to do good, to be rich in
good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay
up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that
they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Q. How do we get our
money from earth to heaven?
Western union? What is the IFSC code of heaven?
God says, as you give to God’s work, you
will lay up for yourself, treasures in heaven. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. Giving is like breathing out. You can keep breathing in but you
need to breath out to be happy.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
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