Miracles: What Do You Need

*Welcome

*Announcement: Miracle offering Sunday is 2 weeks away: Sunday October 27th

*A quick DNA on our church if you are new: we are big fans of this bible. And what happens when it is read it does a long list of things but most of all it draws us closer into our knowledge and relationship with the Lord Jesus. It opens our understanding. It wasnt until the disciples who were on the emmaus road were able to see him it wasnt untilhe expounded and engaged teh scriptures with them did they see him and did they understand him

let us not be people with shut up minds and closed bibles. With open bibles, our understanding of Him deepens.

2 Kings 4.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

4 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, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2 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.” 3 Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 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.”

Prayer: As weve read the word of God we now pray to the God of the word. You are able. increase our faith. Grow us as your people.

Introduction:

Have you ever witnessed a miracle?

Ever seen one with your eyes?

Maybe you have a testimony? i recently heard a story of a miraclous healing in the life of one of our exchange students who had been living for a while now and had lost her sense of smell. it was gone. and she had a miracle happen and it was all of a sudden given back to her by God and she recognized it instantly. this was a miracle.

Do you believe that God still does miracles? or perhaps you find yourself in a place where you doubt the presence of the supernatural and the ability of God to do a miracle

Ever wondered what the Ingredients are to a supernatural miracle?

Over the next few weeks were going to be looking at a few passages of scripture beginning with this one and others and examining together this truth around the miracle working power of God. I believe this will build faith, open perhaps your spiritual sight today to the possibility of God working a miracle in your life.

It all begins with your NEED

Quite often we just stop believing that God can do it. We stop looking for it. Stop expecting it… and instead we start relying on our own self to meet our biggest needs, or the things we think we can handle ourselves. we count God out and think

two points today, which are two questions for all of us

1.DO YOU HAVE A NEED?

2 Kings 4:1 ESV

1 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, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

She had a need.

need - there’s no need for a miracle if there’s no need of a miracle. If someone is in need then someone needs something to happen.

The more desperate the need, the greater the move of God.

We think that need is a sign of weakness - like we are not good or weve done something wrong or that we are somehow spiritually defunct because we have this thing that we cant take care of on our own. and so therefore we look poorly on that thing and think that its a bad thing

I want to implore you to today: being needy is the platform for God to work.

a need is a connection point, a way to begin to work

without a NEED - There is no need for God.

With a NEED, there is a reliance…. and when all we have

whos aloud to be needy? who qualifies to be needy before God? is it the spiritual people, is it the above average church goers, the people of wealth or status? or is it just poor people or people that dont have much - i mean i wonder if we try to categorize need?

Look at how we are introduced to this needy person?

“Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets…

let me say it a way that may shock you but hear my heart i am not being unkind: but in that day what she was was a nobody. No status. No Legal right. Nothing. A widow.

do you think you have to have a certain qualification to be a candidate for a miracle? because the bible hands out no suh pre-requesuite. Are you not known in the public arena? are you hidden somewhere and left thinking no one sees me or knows me or thinks of me. Im telling you - get ready- this is who God does the greatest of all miracles for!

What is your need today? (maybe as we lean into this miracle offering, you could attach a need to it.)

This is our need as a church. and this is how needy we are right now. To go to the next point in our project make room this is what we NEED. and we are going to be praying over this BIG TIME.

our need is big as a church

We have about 200 left in capacity at the 8:30am

We have a about 200 left in capacity in the 11:30am

The 10am is at acapacity. Were full. and there is plenty of room online!

But for the next phase of getting through our civil and site work to even be at a place where we could breakground the cost is $1.6m. just for this stuff. Its what it costs. and we NEED t do it.

Thats our NEED right now as a church.

But the church is meant to be what helps meet the need of the people:

Malachi 3:10 (ESV)

10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Thats the plan of God right there. No More Need.

Do we shy away from it? no… and thats because of the second question.

2.DO YOU BELIEVE GOD CAN EXCEED YOUR NEED?

SO back to our passage she had a need.

but she verbalized her need to God. Elisha was the man of God. Gods representative. The way to access the miracles of God. the supernatural condiut to God was ELISHA.

And the bible says that “She cried out”

Let me ask you a question. have you actually prayed and put into words…. and a prayer FRAME: GOD THIS IS WHAT I NEED YOU TO DO.

i love that it says SHE CRIED OUT. Its paints a ry real picture for us today that indeed she was DESPERATE.

So she CRIED OUT ELISHA. I MY HUSBAND IS DEAD - MY SONS ARE ABOUT TO GET HAULED OFF TO MAKE THE PAYMENT

The New Bible Commentary 1 Ki. 22:41–2 Ki. 8:29 During the Reigns of Ahab’s Sons

It was an accepted custom in Israel that if a family could not pay off its debts by any other means, some or all members of that family would work as servants for the creditor (Lv. 25:39–41). This was the position a widow of one of the prophets found herself in, and she was about to lose her two boys. The situation was serious, for the widow would have no-one to work the family land. She faced a further downward spiral of debt if Elisha could not help.

She was in need.

Desperate NEED. The picture was bleak. It was perhaps her darkest hour. On the eve of her own bereavement now facing more loss. More heartake.

So she cried out.

Jesus talked about this: He talked about how we dont get what we need because were too afraid to ask. too prideful to get on our knees, to skewed in our understanding of our position before almighty God. but Jesus makes it simple. he says . You get NOT because you ASK NOT.

WE NEED TO ASK NOT BECAUSE WERE NEEDY BUT THAT WE HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT HE WILL EXCEED THE NEED NOT JUST MEET IT. The reason we dont ask is because the only confidence we have is in ourselves not God.

Matthew 7:7–14 ESV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

“Theres no harm in asking: what if there is harm in not asking” - because of self reliance. which is pride and essentially idolatry.

THIS IS THE NEED.. JESUS SAYS YOU NEED. AND THAT I NEED. and THAT THE CLOSER WE ARE TO OUR NEED< THE CLOSER WE ARE TO GOD

This is why JESUS gravitated towards need here on EARTH. Because where there is NEED. in Gods economy: THATS WHERE YOU ARE CLOSEST TO HIS SUPPLY.

He hung out with the desperate, the destitue… the NEEDY.

Matthew 9:9–13 (ESV)

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus says don’t so this: you dont realize how vital it is to bring your needs to God not because of you or your need but becuase of God and his care and desire to want to take care of you and show you how wonderful his supply and provision actually is

In Matthew 7:7-14, Jesus tells his followers to ask and seek God with confidence that they will receive and find. Jesus shows that God's responsiveness to prayer is based on God's goodness, not the goodness of the person praying

It says the oil never ran out. Only when the vessels stopped.

we are now the vessels. and we arent meant to stop recieving from God, so that there is continuial supply for others not just ourselves:

This is a correct theology of NEED.

write this down: GOD DOESN’T MEET NEEDS, HE EXCEEDS OUR NEED.

Here is the best part: not only does God meet needs, He exceeds our needs. God doesnt just want you to have miracle done to you. he wants to do a miracle through you as well.

GOD HAS ALREADY EXCEEDED OUR NEED: He has saved you. Not just made you right: but made you a SON.

OUr need of God has been met:

Luke 15:7 ESV

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

the miracle of salvation is this: God has placed the gift of salvation inside the Jars of clay, the Human vessels such as you and i - He has met the need - we need God.

But greater than that.

He has given us the Holy Spirit: which is the Power of God - Working Gospel power in us andout of us and flowing out

2 Corinthians 4:7 “7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7 MSG

7 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.

Do we seem a bit needy>? thats where the treasure is. Hidden inside the vessels of the ordinary person. Thats our GOD>

LETS NEVER STOP NEEDING… EVEN FOR JUST A DAY. My prayer is tht as a church we will always be on the edge of NEED. Not just financial need (like right now) but a daily, weekly, every season type of NEED where we declare to GOD with our NEED> im staying close to you LORD because with you

YOU ARE MY SUPPLY

YOU ARE MY OIL THAT DOESNT RUN OUT

SO LONG AS THERE IS VESELS AVAILABLE… SO LONG AS THEIR IS NEED TO FILL…. GOD CAN SUPPLY TO OVERFLOWING

PRAYER, WORSHIP, RESPONSE: Praying for your need

What do you NEED?

Do you despise and reject your neediness?

or will you today embrace your need as your point of connection to almighty GOD.