Sermon Living In the Overflow

Text: 1 Kings 7:13-15

13And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

15So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

Date: January 3, 2021

Place: ALIBC

Occasion: 1st Sunday

Title: “Living In the Overflow”

Introduction: It is absolutely imperative that we start the new year out correctly. On last Sunday we began to discuss maximizing our potential for 2021. Well 2021 is here now and it is important that we truly maximize our potential by understanding how God wants us to live as believers in the kingdom of God. We cannot live as the world in a constant state of fear and uncertainty but we can boldly confess that our God shall supply all of our needs this upcoming year, because His Word clearly shows us how we should live our lives. Second of all we must understand that God gives us avenues of revenue in order for us to receive seed to sow into his kingdom. And thirdly we must understand that our living comes out of the overflow of our giving.

Body:

MY NEEDS ARE SUPPLIED BY GOD

What are my needs? The bibles clearly tells us that God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. God is the manufacturer of mankind. And who would know better than Him, what our needs are? Many things we think we need are simply things we want. We must be careful to have our lives prioritize properly so that we do not put our wants before our needs. He said in His Word if we delight ourselves in Him then He would give us the desires of our hearts. But we should never desire anything outside of His will for our lives because He doesn’t give it. We give it to ourselves and it frustrates the grace of God in our lives. Sometimes we put the cart before the horse. We spend our money on material things and looking good but the basic things such as a roof over our head, lights in the house, and food on the table are difficult to come by because of misplace priorities.

In 1943, a social psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow developed a model for understanding the motivational needs of individuals. He called his model Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This pyramid model starts with biological or physiological needs such as air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, and sleep. This is the most basic of the five stages if these requirements are not met, the human body cannot function properly and will ultimately fail.

As one climbs the pyramid, he moves on to the next stage called safety needs, which is protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, and freedom from fear. With an individual’s physical needs being met, his behavior is now dominated by security, savings accounts, insurance policies and feeling safe. The absence of safety needs being met can cause deep depression or PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder. If one has ever been in war or serious trauma.

Thirdly on this scale of social needs such as feeling belonged, affection and love from the family, and friends. It is also feeling loved in a romantic relationship. Many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety and clinical depression in the absence of this love or belonging element.

Almost at the top of this hierarchy is esteem, which includes achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect and respect from others. Esteem presents the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People engage in professions or hobbies to gain recognition. These activities give the person a sense of contribution or value. Low self-esteem or an inferiority complex may result from imbalances. People with low self-esteem often need respect from others. They may feel the need to seek fame or glory. However fame or glory will not help the person to build their self-esteem until they accept who they are internally. Depression can hinder a person from obtaining a higher level of self-esteem or self-respect.

At the very top of this hierarchy is self-actualization. Maslow said that only one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized because our society rewards motivation primarily based on esteem, love and other social needs. In other words society does not reward you for being you. Self-actualized is to obtain one’s personal potential, to be self-fulfilled, and to seek personal growth. “What a man can be, he must be.” This quotation forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level is accomplishing everything that one can accomplish. It is becoming everything that one can become. Maslow believed to understand this level one must not only achieve the previous needs but master them. So in summary: They are physiological safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self actualization.

All of us here today could probably find ourselves somewhere on Maslow’s scale of the hierarchy of needs, but I’m reminded in the bible that whatever my need or desire, God can provide it. Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

No matter how difficult your challenges may be today, God can do more for you than you can imagine.

So I encourage you today to stop worrying so much about things because God Can Do It!

Jesus told his disciples to not worry about the future. God has a plan and provision for every possible need and challenge that will ever come in our lives. In Luke 12:22, he said, “take no thought you’re your life.” Jesus wanted us to put our total trust and confidence in God for every possible need being met. He did not want us to worry about any physiological or safety need being met. The future was in his hands.

Jesus definitely wants us to become all we can become. He says it in Luke 12:23, “The life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment.”

So many people today are so focused on surviving that they have no time for God. You will never become all that God has destined or you to become as long as your only focus is on getting your needs met physically or emotionally. We must learn to trust God and put Him first and watch Him take care of our basic needs. God feeds the birds every morning. They don’t sow or reap and neither do they have storehouses but God feeds them. Aren’t you much more than the birds are too God. Look at how God provides for the lilies in the field. They are beautiful. No matter what you have in your closet it doesn’t look as good as the flowers and the greenery we see every morning. Not even Solomon’s wardrobe could match nature.

God warns us and tells us not to be of little faith. The world is preoccupied with getting its needs met. We simply need to acknowledge God and He shall direct our paths. He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. Luke 12:31 is clear and plain. It says, “But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Brothers and sisters you will never truly ever get ahead putting other things before God. It may look like you’re making progress. Life may seem to be safe and secure until all hell breaks loose. Without making God and the Kingdom of God your number one priority in life you are building on sinking sand.

Your relationship with God is more important than your number one biological need to eat and drink. For Jesus is the bread of life. And He told the Samaritan woman that He would give her a drink and she would never thirst again.

I could have plenty of food. I could live in a mansion and have plenty of money, feeling safe and secure; I could be loved and admired by millions on face book and twitter. I could climb Mt. Everest and write a hundred books, but without Jesus I’m still nobody. He’s got to be the center of our lives and the foundation of our lives. Be not deceived Luke 12:15 says, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

In Luke 12:32 he says, “Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Don’t worry about the future. We must establish it once and for all that it is God who shall supply all our needs. He does it just simply because He’s God.

MY BUSINESS, JOB OR CAREER IS FOR SEED, NOT TO SUPPLY MY NEED.

So this precept and principle is extremely important for you to understand this morning as we move into this new year. It is your avenues of revenue that God gives to you to obtain seed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your job, business or career is there to supply your need. No, it is there to provide you with seed. Let me say it again. Your job, career, business, disability, social security, tips, wages, honorariums, commissions etc. are all there so that you may have seed.

When a farmer works in his field he sows seed. He realizes that God supplies his needs but from his harvest he must plant seed for the next harvest. Therefore you can’t eat all your seed. You can spend all your seed, save nor invest your seed, but you must sow your seed or there can be no more harvest. We must understand that God gives us jobs and businesses for seed. So that means we must tithe, give offerings give first fruit, sow, and give to the poor from the funds that God gives us. That’s why you don’t ever have to accept a job or business that will keep you from putting God first. You don’t have to work on Sundays if you don’t want to. God will never force you to take a job that will conflict with your desire to serve Him. Because your job is only for seed anyway. It is God who shall supply all your need.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 carefully,

6But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

9(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

11Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

God doesn’t determine your harvest. You do when you sow.God’s grace determines your avenues of revenue base upon your willingness to trust Him.It is God that gives you seed, God gives you food, and God multiplies your seed.This grace towards you is so that you can be bless to be a blessing.

So this takes me to my final point.

MY LIVING COMES FROM THE OVERFLOW OF MY GIVING.

So how I’m living is base upon my giving. It is not base upon my job or career, because my avenues of revenues are constantly changing depending upon where I am in life. In five years or less you may or may not be doing what you are doing right now. But the key is understanding that your living is an overflow of your giving regardless of your means or vehicle of income.

There are five simultaneous competing priorities for the use of your money. According to the Word of God.

Live: Daily Bread, But learn to be content…Debt: Eliminate debt. Owe no man…Taxes: Pay taxes with an attitude gratitudeGrow: Save and invest, (Margin) increasing margin is the only way to meet long term goals…Give: It is through my giving that I began to live in the overflow.

Closing:

2021 is our year to live in the overflow. It is the year to maximize our potential.

MY NEEDS ARE SUPPLIED BY GODMY BUSINESS, JOB OR CAREER IS FOR SEED, NOT TO SUPPLY MY NEED.MY LIVING COMES FROM THE OVERFLOW OF MY GIVING.Luke 6:38 KJV

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Deuteronomy 8:18 KJV

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Deuteronmy 28:1-131And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.7The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.8The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.9The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.11And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.12The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.13And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

Story/Illustration:

Elijah and the Widow

She’s a prime example of living in the overflow of your giving. During a drought that lasted 3 years and 6 months the Bible says:

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, 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.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ” So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah The New King James Version. (1982). (1 Ki 17:8–16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.Maximize Your Potential in 2021By living in the overflow. By giving my tithes and offerings. By sowing my seeds.And giving to the poor.We didn’t come this far because of any merit of our own.But it was by His grace.It was by His power.It was by His blessing.Has God been goods to You?Has God brought you from a mighty long ways?Then somebody ought to help me praise Him.Because we are living in the overflow.