Elisha Week 4: All I’ve Got

I like that.

I'm gonna miss it when it's not here next week.

You like this?

So good.

I'm glad you're here today.

No.

Well, if we were in kids' church, I'd make y'all get up and get some wiggles out.

Y'all are intense today.

We are gonna have a good time.

Let's pray before we get started.

Lord Jesus, we just thank you for the work that you have already started this morning.

Lord, we thank you that you will take my little and make it much.

That you will give your ears, your people, ears to hear, God, that their eyes would be open to see, Lord, that you yourself would convict the hearts of your men and your women.

In Jesus' name.

The church said, Amen.

Well, we have had such a good time with Elisha, but I have been holding Pastor Sean off.

I've been begging him, don't preach this one because it's my favorite story.

Maybe in the whole Bible, it's my favorite.

Maybe.

And so he has he did he's done it.

He waited, he wanted to preach it last week, and I begged him to wait.

Let me do it.

Let me do it.

And so he he started with burn the plow.

Who was here for burn the plow?

Yeah, leave that old life behind.

We're going towards burn the plow.

And then we dug a ditch.

Who remembers the little tiny shovel?

Yeah, don't bring that shovel.

Don't bring that shovel to serve day.

We already know he'll he'll send you home.

Uh, and then last week we talked about the axe head and how God cares about the little things.

He goes after the little things, and it was such a good sermon.

And and today is the title of my message is All I've Got.

And the reason I like it so much is because it's about a lady who is at the end of her rope.

I mean, literally at the end.

Maybe, maybe you look at your life and you think, man, what could go wrong has gone wrong.

You know, the moment where, you know, you maybe just the ladies in the house, but that moment you get off work and you realize you didn't get gas like you were supposed to on the way.

And you gotta get gas, and then you stop at the pump and the pump doesn't work, and you gotta go to another one, and then that won't take your card, and you gotta go in, you're not going in.

So you go find a new gas station, you start the whole thing again, and you get you get the kids in the car, everybody wants a snack.

We already don't know if the card works or not.

We had an issue at the gas station.

You get home, people have homework, then someone has a project due, and then sweetheart rolls in and says, What's for dinner, honey?

And you just want to you just want to burn it all down right then.

And then the AC starts making a weird noise, and then you get a weird bill in the mail.

It's I think we've all had seasons where everything that could go wrong went wrong.

In fact, when I was studying, I was remembering that when Sean and I decided, okay, we're gonna start this church, we're gonna do it, and we made it Facebook official because it ain't real if it's not on Facebook.

We posted, and I'm telling you, not two days, I want to say like four seconds, but it's probably like four days.

I don't know, maybe two hours later, Sean's truck gets stolen.

Bam! And may I remind you that we need the truck to pull the trailer because we didn't have a building.

And then both the ACs in our house, not just one, no, no, no, no.

Both ACs go out in our house.

Well, that's like$13 million.

I don't know if you know.

Then both my kids get sick.

My kids never get sick, they're sick, and they're terrible patients like their mother.

Terrible.

And then just to top it all off, you know, just because things weren't hot and sticky and weird, and he's borrowing my car, and we don't know how we're gonna start this church, we don't got money in the bank because we spent$13 million on some AC systems.

Pastor Sean loses his voice.

He couldn't sing or preach for almost a year.

This is the moment where you think, are we supposed to plan a church?

Because it feels like, you know, if we don't have a truck to pull the church and we don't have a preacher to preach at the church, and we don't have kids to run the church, maybe we should have started a restaurant.

It's that moment where you have to think, okay, did I hear from God?

It's that moment where you think, okay, I need to hear from God.

And this woman in our story, she's right there.

I mean, I'm telling you, she's lost her husband.

The creditors are at the door.

You ever been in a season of your life where you can't answer your phone because you know what's on the other side?

This girl.

This girl.

In fact, there is a contact in my phone right now marked irritating insurance agent.

Want to know why it's irritating?

Because we owed him a lot of money one time and I couldn't answer the phone because he was irritating.

All settled now, but it was a rough season.

We've been there.

This woman in 2 Kings is the exact same.

Creditors banging at the door.

But I have to say, her life is a little worse than mine because the creditors weren't just trying to get a bill paid, they were gonna take her kids.

Because back in ancient times, that's what they did.

So in in this moment, her past, she had lost her husband.

In her present, the creditors were at the door, and she literally was minutes away from losing her future and her sons.

Gone.

And so I I want to read the scripture to you because it doesn't really even need any extra.

Second Kings 4:1.

2 Kings 4:1

One of we're gonna try to get through this without me stopping every four words, but I don't have I don't have great hope for this, so just hang out.

One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha.

So Elisha would have known her, it would have been uh maybe a staff member, it would have been like Stephanie, Colin, Sean.

Pastor, I need your help.

He would have, he would have known these were believers, these weren't heathens, these weren't pagans, these were people that had given their lives to God in the service of God.

And I think that there is this idea that once you say, you know, Jesus, I'm yours, I want to live my life, then life gets all roses.

It's just not true.

It's not true because the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Because if he can derail your testimony, then he's one.

And so I think that believers struggle maybe more because he doesn't want you to win, he doesn't want you to have the victory.

He comes at you even harder.

And sadly, sometimes we just lay down and take it.

But not our girl.

Our girl didn't lay down and take it.

She went and found Elisha and she said, Your servant, my husband, has died.

You know that your husband feared the Lord.

He loved God.

And now the creditor is coming to take my two children as slaves.

We know later that those were sons.

Her situation was much more serious than I think anyone in this room, honestly.

We've all had bad times, but I don't think anyone, I don't think the irritating insurance agent was coming to take Jake.

I don't think that's how it works.

That was much funnier than you guys laughed.

She was at the cusp of losing her legacy.

Think about in ancient times what it was to have sons.

Those boys would have carried the name of her husband into the future.

She's about to lose it.

All of it.

She went to the man of God.

She could have done a million things in that moment.

She literally could have packed up and left.

She could have uh, I don't know, got a bottle of wine and just numbed out the pain.

She could have rotted in her bed for two weeks on TikTok.

Oh no, wait, hold on.

That's us.

She could have done anything.

But she called the man of God.

And I and I think it's important that we don't ask for counsel anymore.

We get the counsel from ourselves, we get the counsel from people that maybe are right with us, but we don't go to anyone above us and say, Hey, what would you do in this situation?

And I think the reason is because we think we have to have it all together.

We can't ask anyone's opinion.

What would they think of us?

Anna, what would they think of us?

But the thing is, is if you were trying to marry a dude and you brought him to Pastor Sean and said, What do you think about this young man?

He is good looking, Pastor.

I know what your pastor would say is he would say, Does he have a job?

And you would have to look the man of God in his face and say, No, he does not have a job, but he's trying.

And then he would say, Does he have a car?

And you would have to look that man in his face and say, No, he borrows his grandma's car.

And then he would say, Does he have a house?

And you would have to tell the man of God that he lives in his grandma's basement.

And the man of God would tell you, I don't think that's a good match for you.

And you would not like that, and you'd leave the church.

Tell me how I know this.

So we don't ask counsel because what if we get something we don't want to hear?

She didn't know what to do, she didn't know who to talk to.

So she went and found Elisha and she said, What do I do, man of God?

And it didn't matter what he said, she was gonna do it.

Where are you in your walk?

If you get counsel that you don't like, will you obey it?

Or will you say, Oh, I don't like this church, I don't like him.

His beard's weird.

I like your beard, it's them.

So today we're gonna talk about three ways.

Three things to do when you're at the end of your rope.

And it's so clear in scripture.

I it's in fact, Elisha's very next question to her says, in uh 2 Kings 4, 2, he says, What can I do for you?

Tell me, what do you have in your house?

I think there's three practical steps here.

The first one is when you're at the end of your rope, bring your little.

It's interesting to me how she responds.

2 Kings 4 2, that same scripture, she says, Your servant has nothing.

Now, isn't that like a female?

Isn't that like a woman?

What's wrong?

Nothing.

There, gentlemen, there's something wrong, and it will come and bite you.

You gotta dig a little deeper.

You know, or or how about when the kids ask, when you the kids are hungry, and you tell the kids, go find something.

There's nothing to eat.

I'm pretty sure none of you have bare cabinets.

I'm pretty sure there's something.

In fact, I recently learned that there's ingredient households and snack households.

Have we heard about this?

Do you know about this?

Well, my family, much to my children's issues, are we're an ingredient household.

We don't buy rice crispy treats, we buy the ingredients for rice crispy treats, and they still are meant, they're probably in counseling for that.

Because apparently having crisp rice crispy treats, rice crispies, marshmallows, and butter is not the same as just going and picking out, but we still had something, and so it's interesting to me because she says she has nothing, and then this word pops up except a jar of oil.

And the oil in ancient times was not just cooking oil, it was it was cooking oil, but it was also light, it was medicine, it was worship.

Oil was incredibly valuable, and I think we think she probably had something like this, but historians actually believe that she had something closer to this.

Maybe one more meal, one more evening of light, enough for one scraped knee.

And it the historians talk about how she probably didn't have a jar, she probably had a flask.

And I thought if I brought a flask up here, you guys would take that and put it on the internet, and I'd have a lot of explaining to you.

So now you get my water bottle, even though I think I could probably borrow one pretty easily.

So imagine one use.

That's why it didn't seem that big to her.

That's why it was oh, except this last little bit of oil.

And I think we look at our lives and I think we think, God, I don't have anything to bring you.

I don't have anything for you.

I I can barely pay my bills, I can barely get these kids raised.

I I have nothing except you do, except that God has put a purpose and a calling on every one of your lives.

If all you have to bring is a smile to someone, if that's all you have is to look in some, this is a novel concept, to look in another person's eyes and smile with your whole face.

Hold on, you know, not this, the whole face, like where your eyes light up.

There's so many studies how another human responds to a real smile.

Not this.

That's a grimace, that's not a smile.

Maybe you haven't smiled really in a long time.

Your muscles don't work.

You gotta you gotta pull them up.

Yeah, let's all try.

Everybody look around.

Smile, make sure it hits your eyes.

Come on, teenagers.

Oh, you are grumpy.

Look at you.

Let's come there.

It is.

Let me see some teeth.

There they are.

If that's all you have to give, smile.

Challenge for you.

Slow down this week and look at the little girl at Chick-fil-A, like, really look at her and say thank you with a smile.

Do you know how often that happens to them?

Not very.

Because we're so hurried.

You're very important, I understand.

I do.

You're so important that your smile could change that kid's life.

That that human connection is so important.

Now, Ange, why are you happy on a smile?

Because everyone has one.

You may have stored it in the back of the closet, but it is there.

But I imagine you have other things.

I imagine there's some bit of oil that you have to give.

When Sean and I started dreaming about what relate would look like, and and I told him, I said, Sean, I, you know, I don't play the piano like normal pastors' wives.

That's what they do, you know.

I don't sing like normal pastors' wives.

I join the choir, you know, and I try.

I get up there and howl.

I tell Stephanie, Stephanie, I think you think I know more than I don't.

I'm gonna need you to start, you know, pre-K choir.

I told at that point I wasn't preaching.

I never preached before.

I could barely take the offering.

They let me get up and do the announcements sometimes, and then they'd be like, oh, well, don't schedule her.

But I had this one bit of oil.

And I thought, maybe, just maybe.

And I'm about to tell you something that I'm not very proud of, but for a little while, I sold Plexus.

Which, if you don't know what that is, it's it's a market level market, it's a pyramid scheme, okay?

God bless us all.

We've come a long way.

We did it, it was a time in our life.

We also may have sold Pampered Chef at some point in life.

It doesn't matter.

We were very good at it, by the way.

We were.

We'll tell that story another time.

But in that season of my life, I went to these webinars that taught me all about social media, taught me how to start a business page from scratch and get followers and make sure the algorithm would show you to all your friends.

Perplexes, so you could see the pink drink.

And when it was over, I just put that skill up on the shelf.

And then it hit me when we started relate.

Hold on, churches need social media, and I know social media.

And I wonder how many of you saw relate on Facebook for the first time.

That's still my team, that's still my oil, and now I'm teaching my kids a whole team of women to do it, but Grace runs the reels.

I barely post anymore.

Who knew?

But because I brought my little for a long time, Relate didn't even have a sign.

Our only sign was our Facebook posts.

That was it.

And people would come in and say, I saw you on Facebook.

It wouldn't stop showing up in my feed.

And I was like, Yeah, you're welcome.

And it was, they were not happy, they were more irritated.

Remember, Sherry?

They're more Sherry found us on Facebook that morning.

The very first morning that we launched, Sherry pulled up her Facebook just to watch some cat videos, and she found a church.

How many?

But that's not Pat myself on the back.

That's because I used a little oil.

Just a little, with a willing heart.

Don't discount what's already in your hand.

The thing is, is that it might just be a few hours.

In fact, this morning a lady told me, hey, I've got a couple hours tomorrow.

There's something you need me to do at the church.

And I was like, Yeah, there's something I need you to do at the church.

But she's coming up to organize the kids, the kids' classes upstairs tomorrow.

What do you have for Woo! Thank you.

That was a teacher.

What do you have in your hand?

What could you do?

Do you have a hard time parking this morning?

Hmm.

We need a parking team.

You got a little oil for the parking team?

You got a little oil for that coffee?

Coffee could have been stronger today, Pastor Andrew.

Ooh, we need your oil in that coffee team.

Maybe your family needs your oil.

Maybe you were an algebra specialist in high school.

Like people paid you to take their tests.

I don't know if that's even a thing.

I was homeschooled.

I have no idea.

Maybe your kids need that.

What is your oil?

What is your your little thing that you could bring to God?

I could probably talk about this all over, but we gotta go.

Because Elisha's next instruction requires her to do something that some of us feel find so uncomfortable.

He said, Then go out and borrow empty containers from all of your neighbors.

Do not get just a few.

She had to become vulnerable.

You see, I understand about a small town, and I'm assuming she lived in a small town, and I'm pretty sure everybody in her neighborhood already knew the creditors were walking on the door.

They surely knew her husband had died.

I'm pretty sure they already knew her business, but now she has to humble herself and go ask for help.

And she really doesn't even know why.

Hey girl, can I can I borrow a pot?

And they're like, why?

And she's like, I don't know.

Elisha just said to get some.

I I don't know.

And I wonder in this room, are there any extra jars?

Anyone got an extra jar?

Because the importance about community is when you send out an SOS, they show up and they bring their jars.

Ooh, that's a big one.

A lot of oil going there.

Oh, Shannon.

That's a nice pot.

See, one person didn't have all the pots, but everybody brought something.

And they couldn't solve her problems, but they could help her.

And I think there's this moment in our lives where we can't even ask for help, and then we're mad that no one helps us.

No one checked on me.

No one knew.

Because when we asked you how you were, you're fine.

But you're not fine.

There was this moment in her life where she had to she had to take the mask off and say, I need your help.

And I think that we have become a culture that cannot ask for help.

Somehow we got it in our heads that we're supposed to know it all and be able to do it all and be able to handle it all.

No, no, I'm fine.

I got it.

Uh, are you the woman who brings in all 36 bags of groceries at one time?

Breaking all fingers and fingernails on the way in, and then you're a Mad because no one helped you?

Just me then?

Okay.

You see, I think we think that isolation gives us space, but it actually solves nothing.

It makes the problem worse.

Because the thing is, is she could have told Elisha no.

I'm not doing that.

I'm not going to small group.

I'm not telling these people what's really going on.

I'm not telling them I'm going through a divorce.

What would they think of me?

I'm not telling my kids have issues.

But it's the moment where you're able to say, I don't have it all together and I need help, is when your community shows up and brings you some jars.

And this is why I am so passionate about small groups.

This is why relate is not just a church with small groups, we're a church of small groups.

Because sitting in this room, it would be hard to stand up and say, hey guys, I got a really weird medical diagnosis, and I really could use some prayer.

That would be terrifying for me to say that in this room.

But in a small group of three or four, could you raise your hand and say, I need some help.

I need a jar.

The gift of community, the gift of a local church is so incredibly valuable.

But it's just a thing you do if you don't connect.

And I think we're all waiting so long for everyone else to be vulnerable.

But they're waiting on you, and it's this weird circle, and then everyone's fine, and no one is real.

Someone has to start.

Someone has to put their hand out and ask for the jar.

I'm gonna go on, but I actually, this next verse is the one that has been sitting on my heart all week long.

It's this next piece of instruction that Elisha gives her.

Second Kings 4:4, he says, Then go in.

2 Kings 4:4

So get the jars and then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons.

All week, I just was why shut the door?

Why did it matter?

Leave the door open.

They didn't have any oil for life, anyways.

It's dark in there.

And then it hit me because sometimes when you invite everyone into your miracle, the negativity stops the miracle.

She could not afford for one negative Nelly to walk in that room and say, This will never work.

Why are you even trying?

How many times, Sean, have people told us this would never work?

Countless.

We still shut the door and make our plans and be obedient.

You see, your miracle is not someone else's content, it's not someone else's entertainment.

Sometimes you gotta put your kids in a room and say, you know what, this is what we're believing for, and God's gonna do it.

Watch.

We we don't need everyone else's input, we don't need everyone else's opinion.

Let them see the victory when the miracle happens.

That's when you open the door.

You don't need any more opinions, you don't need any more opinions.

We got too many opinions for ourselves.

Close the door.

He goes on, and then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons.

Bring your kids with you to the miracle, that'll preach all by itself.

Don't leave them on the outside, they need to see it.

Pour the oil into all of these containers, set the full ones to one side, and when they were full, she said to her son, Bring me another container.

And he replied, There aren't any more.

And in that moment, the oil stopped.

The third thing to do when you're at the end of your rope is begin to pour.

The door is shut, the containers are ready, but she still had to tip the jar.

Imagine when she took her little flask and began to pour the very first time.

Imagine what was going on in her head.

Did she think it would work?

Did she know what would happen?

And then it just kept pouring.

See, she couldn't have started with a big jar.

It wouldn't have really mattered.

Little, little to big, little to much.

Poor, poor, poor.

And if if I think back to when my kids were little, I can imagine the kids' response.

Mom, what's happening?

Is it still pouring?

Give me another jar.

There's oil all over the floor, Mama.

What do we do?

Give me another jar.

Keep pouring, Benjamin, keep pouring.

Can you imagine?

When will it stop, Mama?

When will it stop?

I don't know.

Stop asking questions.

I can just I know.

Anyone that has kids, if you work in the school district, you know the kids got a thousand questions at the wrong time.

Quit asking questions, Benjamin.

Mama, it's still coming.

I know.

More jars, boys.

Go get more jars.

Imagine the boys running through the streets.

Does anyone have a jar?

It was probably chaos.

It was the biggest thing that happened in that town.

They probably still talk about it.

I don't know that.

That's not historical.

Don't fact check me.

See, she couldn't multiply the oil, but she could tip the jar.

You can pour.

You can be obedient.

And I think some of us are praying for direction.

We are praying for God to give us the next step, and he already told us what to do.

We just have to pour.

It's time to tip the jar.

So you don't need the whole plan to take the step.

That's where we get it wrong.

We gotta know how it ends.

I need the five-year plan, Lord, before we go.

We gotta pour.

She did not know how this would end.

She did not know why she had 50 million jars in her house.

And I imagine with each new jar, she thought, is this the last?

Is this the last?

Okay, that was enough to pay off the insurance guy.

Okay, that was enough to pay the electrical bill.

Okay, that that was enough to save Simeon.

I'm making these boys' names up, I have no idea.

Don't write that down in your notes.

Can you imagine the accounting going on in her head?

Can you imagine?

Oh, oh, we can eat.

Okay, this is six days.

This jar is six days worth of bread.

What are you waiting to pour?

What do you need to do for your miracle to happen?

Maybe you don't know.

That's what Pastor Susan was talking about today.

The discover your purpose dinner is tonight at six, is the perfect time to pour.

Your family needs you.

Your church needs you.

And if if you're not in the season to pour here, your kids need you to pour.

The internet does not need you to pour.

I promise they're fine without you.

Your children need you to pour.

Your co-workers need you to pour.

Your parents need you to pour.

Someone needs encouragement.

Well, no one encourages me.

I'm sorry.

Start.

Create a culture in your family of affirmation.

Create a culture in your family of building each other up.

Well, no one does that to me.

Okay.

Start.

Someone has to start pouring.

What if they just stood around?

Okay, boys, are you gonna pour or am I gonna pour?

No, you pour four.

No, somebody had to pour.

The last verse of this passage shows that God always blesses obedience.

Second Kings 4, 7.

She went and told the man of God, hold on, a caveat here.

I've been wanting to say this for a while.

You guys call us all the time with prayer requests, but you never tell us when your prayers are answered.

I have a list a mile long in my Bible of prayer requests for all of you.

And then I'll ask you about, oh yeah, that happened, I got that raised four years ago.

Well, thank you.

I think we move so fast past miracles.

I think we move so fast past God's answered prayers right to the next one that we don't even celebrate what God did.

Life is just too fast, Angela.

Well, throw the brakes on, baby.

God just did a miracle in your family's life.

Remember when you went for the biopsy and you had me praying for the biopsy, and then I don't know what happened to the biopsy, and you're like, oh, I'm fine.

Well, thank you very much.

Let's celebrate.

Let's go have some queso.

Come on.

That's a big deal.

Alright, I'll stop.

She went and told the man of God about the miracle.

And he said, Go sell the oil and pay your debt.

You and your sons can live on the rest.

Those boys were little.

Not just her.

Not just her live, the boys.

It was generational wealth.

This oil was generational.

What do you need in your life for your children?

What oil can you bring?

What obedience do you need?

A few months ago, 17 couples got married in this room.

Come on! 17 couples! And the best part of the whole night for me, the best part was the kids watching their parents say yes.

Was the kids understanding that the blessing of God is coming on their family because we've put our lives before them.

Your children are watching.

Your nieces and nephews are watching.

If no one will lead them, it's you.

You have to lead, you have to pour.

Kids live on what remains.

The interesting thing to me is that she brought the oil.

Her community brought the jars, and God brought the miracle.

And maybe you're in the moment right now.

You came to church and said, you know, this is all I've got.

All I've got is this little bit.

I have an hour and a half, and I'm gonna sit in this chair.

Heaven help anyone who talks to me.

You brought your oil today.

You brought a space of time for God to do a miracle, and I think that this service has an opportunity to change your life.

But you can't hold on so tight.

You can't.

The next generation needs you to pour.

The next generation needs your oil.

It needs your calling and your purpose.

It needs to hear.

In fact, I have been in so just study of Titus 2, where the older teaches the younger.

There's a calling there that the older must teach the younger.

Miss Patrice and I have gone around and around talking about how there's a calling on the older to teach the younger.

Because we need your oil.

Because we need your oil.

I wonder if there's someone in the room that's just not sure.

And maybe all you have is empty hands and an empty vessel.

I think your first step is to trust the Lord.

I think your first step is to take a step and believe in Jesus as your Savior.

Maybe you've walked away for a long time.

Maybe you've gone through all the motions, but you know in your heart that your little jar is almost empty.

You've used up all your oil.

I think there's a moment in this service where we can rededicate our hearts to the Lord and maybe make that first-time decision to follow Jesus.

Because the thing is, is that you cannot earn your way into a relationship with the Lord.

He died for your sins and he rose again.

And he offers forgiveness and new life, not because you're so good, but because he's so good.

Would you bow your head?

Close your eyes.

Let's say yes to Jesus.

Repeat after me, dear Jesus, I need you.

I believe you died for my sins and rose again.

Forgive me.

I turn from my sin.

I place my trust in you.

Lead my life.

Teach me to follow.

Amen.

I think there's another group of people in this room.

In fact, I'm gonna ask the prayer partners to join me.

I think there's people in this room that need to bring their little to the altar.

But Lord, this is all I have.

Do something with it.

Or maybe you need to bring your jars.

Or maybe it's time to pour yourself.

Maybe it's a time to decide to do something different this time around.

Maybe you've been so hurt and so broken by people in the past that you're you're worried about pouring again.

Maybe you're unconcerned that you're gonna get hurt again.

My friend, the only way to heal is to pour.

The only way to heal is to take the anointing of the Lord and pour it out of what you stand.

I'm gonna open the altar.

This is your chance.

Wing your little.

We think you that this works.

We think you put a poor in their life so that they will be all the poor.

That they will be all that you nothing if it's right.

We actually put it.