Depending on the Oil

2 Kings 4:1–7 NLT

1 One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” 2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied. 3 And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” 5 So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. 6 Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”

1. Even as a believer unexpected thing will happen in our lives.

John 16:33 NLT

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

1 Peter 4:12 NLT

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.

When unexpected things happen, don’t think it is strange

When unexpected things happen, don’t say why me, instead think, why not me.

2. What do we do when unexpected things happen in our life?

The widow sought godly counsel.

Proverbs 11:14 AMP

14 Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Proverbs 12:15 GNB

15 Stupid people always think they are right. Wise people listen to advice.

Proverbs 20:18 NLT

18 Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.

3. True Believers will help.

2 Kings 4:2 NLT

2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

What can I do to help you?

People are willing to help. but what do we have in the house?

What can we do in the natural to show we are trying?

John 11:38–39 NLT

38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

Jesus wants us to do what we can in the natural and then he will do what He can in the supernatural.

4. Do you believe what you have is worthless?

The widow looked at what she had and views it as significant.

It’s the things we deem worthless and insignificant that God wants to use.

1 Corinthians 1:27 NKJV

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

What are you going to do in Unexpected times?

Prayer

Hebrews 4:16 KJV 1900

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

2. Get into the Word of God

Psalm 119:105 NIV

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Matthew 7:24 NIV

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

3. Fellowship with other Believers

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Hebrews 10:25 NLT

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

We truly have to depend on the oil, and the oil is the direct correlation of the Holy Spirit