Today I'm going to continue my heart -to -heart
talk regarding something that is the most practical
thing in the world. And it's a part of our inheritance
in Christ Jesus. Oh, if only we could learn how
to live. Honestly, there never was a generation
that knew more about life than this generation.
And it's just like that. And yet... I still contend
that there never was a generation that knew less
about living than this generation. And if only
you and I could learn how to live this Christian
life. Because every provision has been made by
the Master for a daily, triumphant, consistent,
happy life. But there are some things that are
necessary if we're going to live according to
God's plan for a happy life. I talked to you,
you know, about the power of God. Oh, you've
heard me talk over and over again about the power
of God. And that's the only part that I play
in this ministry, really, is to just get you
to see how big, God is. Just to remind you how
great is His power. And when once you realize
the bigness, the greatness of God, then it's
simple, it's easy for the two of you to work
everything else out from there on out. But there's
something else I want you to see. Not only the
bigness of His power, But the fact that his presence
with his people is real, it's not just a theory.
Oh, you know, we've got so many theories. But
this, what I'm talking to you about, is something
that is not a theory, but a fact. The most real
thing to you as an individual. And that is his
presence. presence with you. Now some folk act
as though they feel that when they have troubles,
when there's sorrow, when tragedy comes to them,
that God just turns his back and he walks away,
leaving them. That's the way people do sometimes,
you know. People are so fickle. Oh, sure, most
of our friends, when you really analyze it, are
sunny weather friends. As long as you can buy
them a meal, and as long as you are doing the
giving, and as long as they are receiving from
you, as long as the sun's shining and everything's
going well, they're good friends. But just a
minute, something goes wrong. Where are they?
They never come around any longer. As long as
your husband is footing the bill. But the minute
he loses his job, where are they? They aren't
hanging around anymore. They don't come to your
house anymore. Oh, human nature is so fickle.
And some of us get the idea that God is like
that. But he's there. He's just as real. He's
just as near to you. He's just as dependable.
He is just as powerful as He was when you were
in the Holy Sanctuary feeling the power and the
presence of the Holy Spirit. And you were receiving
His glorious presence. Oh, that's glorious. Remember
that. presence with His people is not merely
a theory, it's a fact. But I want you to see
something. We're going to go a little deeper.
The Word of God says, obedience is greater than
sacrifice. I didn't say that, but I have found
it's true. God knows exactly what he's talking
about. Now, if I were to have made a statement,
in my limited knowledge, I would have said, the
greatest thing in the world to you is sacrifice.
And we hear so much about sacrifice. Oh, sacrifice.
Sacrifice. Sacrifice is wonderful, but... I found
out that there is a place in Christ Jesus that
when we love him enough, nothing is really a
sacrifice. When you love somebody enough, no
matter what you do for them, you never consider
it a sacrifice. Because love is something you
do. Nothing. No matter what you paid for it.
No matter what you had to go through to get it,
no matter how much of yourself was involved,
when you love someone enough, nothing is a sacrifice.
You only wish you could do more. If you really
want to test your love, that's one of the greatest
tests I know anything about. Mm -hmm. And so
it is with the master. When you love him enough,
The hours are never too long. You're never too
tired. Nothing that you give, nothing that you
do, is ever considered a sacrifice. You only
wish you could do more. The Word of God says
that obedience is greater than sacrifice. Obedience
is something. That was one of the lessons I had
to learn early in life. And I learned it the
hard way. Seems to me that everything I've ever
learned in life was the hard way. Oh, dear me.
What I've gone through in life would have been
enough to kill the average person. But I was
always the kind that... Every time I got knocked
down, up I came again, you know. A little stronger.
Fought a little harder. I've always tried to
learn. And everything. You see, it's because
I didn't get anything that I know from a seminary.
I didn't get anything that I have learned in
life out of a textbook. I never went to a college
in my life. I never went to a university. In
my life, I didn't have these privileges. I got
mine the hard way. Sometimes it was mighty hard.
And this is one of the lessons I had to learn.
This thing of obedience. And sometimes you follow
him in obedience in blind faith. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Abraham, go. Go where, God? Where? Never mind,
Abraham. Go. Go. I've given the command. Go.
And he went. Moses, go. But I can't, Lord. I
have a stammering tongue. I'm not big enough
to meet the situation. I can't carry this responsibility.
Lord, dear me, are you sure you're not making
a mistake? Go, Moses. All that I ask of you is
to be obedient. That's all. And God didn't show
Moses how he was going to lead. He didn't lay
out a blueprint before him. He didn't give him
one bit of assurance. Of any provision. Not really.
He just showed Moses himself. And said, Moses,
keep your eyes on me. Go. And as long as you
are obedient to me. And there came the hour when
Moses stood face to face with the Red Sea. With
the thousands behind him that he was leading.
to the word of God, and God never opened the
Red Sea three feet ahead of Moses. I do not believe
that the waters of the Red Sea parted two feet,
18 inches, 12 inches. God said, go, Moses, and
it was when Moses literally lifted his foot,
as though he were placing it up on water, that
the waters of the Red Sea rolled back as mold
and glass on either side, and God led through.
Obedience, that's it. And there's more involved
in obedience than you and I can realize. Do something,
if you will, please. Turn to the portion of the
Word of God, and I won't have time to read it
all to you. You read it. It's 1 Kings, the 17th
chapter. Just mark it down if your Bible isn't
handy. I want you to read the whole thing. Spend
time with it. Elijah is involved in this one.
Elijah was obedient to the Lord. And you are
never in God's perfect will unless you are following
Him in obedience. All the way. But there's more
than Elijah mixed up in this portion of the Word
of God. Before we're through the entire thing,
there's Elijah, who was obedient first, then
a little widow who was obedient. And then finally,
because this thing is like a snowball, it keeps
getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Obedience
isn't for just a moment, not for just that one
experience, not for just a day. When you're obedient
to him, the thing keeps snowballing and gets
bigger and bigger and bigger. All right, watch
it. Elijah, arise. And in obedience, he did exactly
that. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman
to sustain thee. I am now beginning with the
ninth verse of the 17th chapter of 1 Kings, but
you read the entire thing. And when he came to
the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman
was there gathering of sticks. And he called
to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little
water in the vessel that I may drink. He probably
had never seen her before. She had never seen
him. She didn't even know who he was. But God
knew the whole thing, and he never makes a mistake.
Oh, I'll tell you, and he runs on schedule. And
as she was going to fetch it, he called her and
said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread
in thine hand. See, the water? She could get
him. But when she started to get the water, he
called back and said, And say, would you mind
please bringing me a morsel of bread? And she
said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not
a cake. I don't have. a cake. I'm a poor little
widow woman. All on earth I have is a handful
of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruise.
And behold, I'm gathering two sticks that I may
go in and dress it for me and my son that we
may eat it and die because that was all she had.
That was all honors. Wouldn't one have thought
that God would have sent Elijah in his time of
need? To a wealthy person? Somebody who had much
to give? It's the strangest thing. God doesn't
work that way. Do you want to know who is supporting
his work? Not the millionaires, but those who
have just a handful of meal in a barrel and a
little oil in the cruise, and they are the ones
who will receive the reward. It's always been
like that. She said, that's all I've got. I've
only got a little handful of meal, just enough
for one meal for my son and myself. I've got
a little oil in the cruise. And behold, I'm getting
sticks. That's what I was doing when you saw
me, that I may go in and dress it for me and
my son, that we may eat it and die. Because that's
all we have. There's no chance of getting any
more. And Elijah said unto her, fear not. Go
and do it as thou hast said. But make me, therefore,
a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and
after make for thee and for thy son. For thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of
oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth
rain upon the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah. And she... And he and
her house did eat many days. God always blesses
obedience. Always. I've learned a long time ago
that the reason many, many people never get anywhere
in life is because they have never learned of
this wonderful secret of being obedient unto
the Lord. They get so greedy. They get so selfish.
And the minute that you do, you lose the blessing,
and year passes, and five years pass, and still
you have no more than you had the first year.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did
the cruise of oil fail, according to the word
of the Lord. which he spake by Elijah, is at
the end. No, it's not the end, because obedience
continues. It grows. Because the little widow
woman was obedient in something that on the surface
seemed very small, there came a time when she
needed something big from the Lord. He remembered
her obedience. This continues. And it came to
pass after these things that the son of the woman,
the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his
sickness was so sore that there was no breath
left in him. And she said unto Elijah, she remembered
the preacher. What have I to do with thee, O
thou man of God? Art thou coming to me to call
my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? And
he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took
him out of her bosom, carried him up into a loft,
where he abode. They were just poor people. They'd
lived up in a loft. And he laid him upon his
own bed. And he cried unto the Lord and said,
O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon
the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her
son? And he stretched himself upon the child
three times and cried unto the Lord and said,
O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's
soul come into him again. And the Lord heard
the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child
came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah
took the child. brought him down out of the chamber
into the house and delivered him unto his mother.
And Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the
woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that
thou art a man of God and that the word of the
Lord in thy mouth is truth. But I do not... believe
that this miracle would have happened if the
little widow woman had not been obedient with
the handful of meal in the barrel and the little
oil that was left in the cruise. God bless you.