Tony Evans - Releasing God's Protection

May 29, 2026 | 27:29

Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - Releasing God's Protection | May 29, 2026
  • ...
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  • Tony evans: when god is getting ready to move,
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  • It often won't make sense.
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  • When god is getting ready to move,
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  • It often will not be logical.
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  • You won't be able to put it in a test tube
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  • And figure it out because he's doing something
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  • Different, unique, and often supernatural.
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  • When god is making provision,
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  • He's making provision for more than just you.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Tony: today i want to talk about releasing god's provision.
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  • This is when god meets a need in your life.
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  • This is when god addresses a situation
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  • In your experience.
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  • There is one overarching lesson here.
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  • I learned it many years ago and have repeated it
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  • A multiplicity of times in our gatherings.
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  • And whatever needs erupt in your life,
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  • There is only one source.
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  • There are many resources-- that is, mechanisms
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  • That the one source can and does use
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  • To address needs in your life, but there's only one source.
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  • There's only one great physician,
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  • Although there are many doctors.
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  • You can change doctors, but you can't change
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  • A great physician, 'cause there's only one source.
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  • The moment you and i understand this principle--
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  • That there's only one source--
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  • You can no longer be threatened by resources.
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  • You can no longer be trapped by being held hostage
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  • By a resource, because the resource
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  • Was never the source.
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  • It was just a mechanism used at that time
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  • To provide a resource from the source
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  • That is singular in nature.
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  • So i want you to know that, i want you to grab that
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  • Because the moment you lose it
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  • And you turn the resource into the source,
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  • You've created an idol.
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  • In our passage of many that we could have chosen from,
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  • It surrounds the prophet elijah.
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  • And he's in a pagan environment with ahab and his wife jezebel.
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  • And what they had done was they had brought idolatry
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  • Into the land.
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  • In 1 kings chapter 16, we read that "it came about,"
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  • Verse 31, "as it had been a trivial thing for him
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  • To walk in the sins," that is ahab,
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  • "of jeroboam... that he married jezebel
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  • The daughter of ethbaal king of the sidonians,
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  • And went and served baal and worshiped him.
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  • So he erected an altar to baal
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  • In the house of baal, which he built in samaria.
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  • And ahab also made asherah--" that's baal's girlfriend.
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  • "thus ahab did more to provoke the lord god of israel
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  • Than all the kings of israel who had been before him."
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  • What you have to understand about an idol
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  • Is an idol is a noun, any person, place, thing or thought
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  • That becomes your source.
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  • Idols weren't just things that were worshiped,
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  • They were things that were worshiped
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  • To produce something, to produce fertility
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  • On the ground or with the animals
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  • Or even with human life.
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  • Idols were looked to to make it rain
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  • Or to make the sun shine.
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  • They were things that people look to
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  • As the source.
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  • We have american idols.
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  • These are the more 21st-century, sophisticated idols.
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  • And they come in all shapes and sizes,
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  • But they are what you look to as your source.
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  • Your idol could be your politics, your race,
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  • Or your money.
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  • Your bank can be your source. your job can be your source.
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  • Your checking account can be your source.
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  • The moment that source becomes your source
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  • And no longer becomes a resource
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  • That the source uses to resource you,
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  • You have made that resource a source, and therefore,
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  • That resource has become an idol.
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  • Once the resource becomes the source,
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  • It is now competing with god.
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  • It says that baal, this idol, had been erected
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  • In israel, and it brought god to anger.
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  • So in chapter 17, verse 1, it says, "elijah the tishbite,
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  • Who are settlers in gilead, said to ahab,
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  • 'as the lord, the god of israel lives, before whom i stand,
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  • Surely there shall be neither dew nor rain
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  • These years, except by my word.'"
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  • He says, "because you've chosen to get
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  • A foreign source, it's not gonna rain."
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  • So now we have a drought, we've got a dry season,
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  • Because of their departure from god.
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  • In our contemporary world, it could be inflation,
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  • Recession, or you losing your job
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  • And so provision becomes troubled.
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  • And even if you have the stuff,
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  • You may not have the peace to go with it.
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  • Let me state it again as i walk through this.
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  • You only have one source,
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  • So no resource should ever own or control you,
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  • Because god can change resources,
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  • As you'll see, whenever he chooses.
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  • So there's a drought, there is no rain,
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  • And so things have become very, very tough.
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  • If you know the story, you know this drought
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  • Is gonna last three and a half years.
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  • If you don't have rain for three and a half years,
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  • The repercussions and implications
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  • Of that lack of provision is staggering.
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  • Elijah comes on the scene and god tells him
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  • In verse 3 of chapter 17 of 1 kings,
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  • "i want you to go eastward, and i want you to hide yourself
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  • By the brook of cherith, which is east of jordan.
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  • And it shall be that you will drink from the brook,
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  • And i have commanded the ravens to provide for you."
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  • No, wait a minute now.
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  • We got a dry season, there is no rain.
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  • But god tells elijah, "i got a place with some water.
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  • I want you to hide yourself,
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  • Go to this place i'm gonna send you,
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  • And i have commanded the ravens to feed you."
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  • Because what you need to know is that ravens
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  • Were unclean birds.
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  • They were birds prohibited by god.
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  • God told them in deuteronomy 14, verses 11 to 14,
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  • "these are the birds you can eat,
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  • But you cannot eat a raven because that's an unclean bird."
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  • So what do you need to know?
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  • One is that it's a bird, but two, it's an unclean bird.
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  • And the reason you need to know that is
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  • That when god wants to do something,
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  • He can take something dirty and still provide
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  • In the midst of it.
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  • What you need to know is that god is not limited
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  • On his resources.
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  • That's why you don't wanna turn your resource into a god,
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  • Because if you do, you may miss out on
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  • God flying something in that you didn't expect,
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  • Bringing it out of nowhere.
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  • Over and over again, god says he is the source.
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  • Proverbs chapter 13, verse 22,
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  • God says he takes the wealth of the wicked
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  • And holds it in store for when he wants to transfer it
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  • To the righteous.
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  • That's why you don't have to let any resource own you,
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  • Because god can switch them out in a minute.
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  • He can change it in a minute.
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  • He can turn it in a minute.
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  • The reason why israel was able to leave egypt,
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  • As pagan as pharaoh was
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  • And as wicked as the egyptians were,
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  • Is that when god sent the plagues,
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  • They wanted to get rid of the jews so bad that it says,
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  • "they gave them silver and gold
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  • So that they could hurry up and leave."
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  • God made the sinners so miserable
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  • That they paid the saints to get out.
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  • When nehemiah wanted to build the walls of jerusalem,
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  • It says that the pagan king of persia
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  • Provided the wood,
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  • Provided the letter, provided the security,
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  • So that the saints could rebuild the walls of jerusalem.
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  • So don't think just because you're working
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  • For a dirty boss and a dirty company
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  • That they are in charge of you, because god can take ravens
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  • And still feed you.
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  • And when you understand that,
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  • When you understand that god is so comprehensive
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  • In his approach
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  • That even wickedness can be used by him
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  • To address the needs of his people,
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  • You don't have to be intimidated by the sources,
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  • Because you only have one source.
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  • That's why i love psalm 104.
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  • Psalm 104 talks about god being your only source,
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  • And he says it in a lot of different ways
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  • So that--so that you get it.
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  • He says in psalm 104, beginning with verse 10,
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  • He says, "he sends forth springs in the valley,
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  • That flow between the mountains.
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  • They give drink to every beast of the field;
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  • The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
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  • Besides them the birds of the heavens do dwell;
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  • They lift up their voices among the branches.
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  • He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
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  • The earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works.
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  • He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
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  • And vegetation for the labor of man,
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  • So that he may bring food from the earth,
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  • And wine which makes man's heart glad,
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  • So that they may make his face glisten with oil,
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  • And food which sustains man's heart.
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  • The trees of the lord drink their fill,
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  • The cedars of lebanon which he planted,
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  • Where the birds build their nest,
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  • And the storks, whose home is in the fir trees."
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  • He concludes in verse 24, he says, "o lord,
  • 00:11:55.196 --> 00:12:00.869
  • How great are your works!
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  • In wisdom you have made them all;
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  • The earth is full of your possessions."
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  • What he's trying to say is all this stuff happens
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  • Because every good and perfect gift
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  • Comes from above-- that it starts with your source.
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  • The bank is not your source.
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  • Your job is not your source.
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  • Your income is not your-- all those are just channels
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  • That god uses.
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  • He says, "elijah, i am going to provide for you
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  • In a way you didn't expect."
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  • And nothing will make god more real to you
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  • Than when he provides
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  • At a time where you can't see where the provision
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  • Is coming from.
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  • That's when he gets to show you that he is your source.
  • 00:12:53.087 --> 00:12:58.760
  • That's why deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, says,
  • 00:12:58.760 --> 00:13:02.497
  • "i let you get hungry," he says.
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  • "i let your stomach start to churn
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  • And you wonder where my next meal
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  • Was coming from.
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  • I let you do that so that you would know
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  • That i am god,
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  • So that when you cross the jordan"--
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  • Read--when you get a chance, read deuteronomy 8--
  • 00:13:20.915 --> 00:13:23.151
  • "when you cross the jordan
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  • And you build houses and you have property
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  • And now you're living large, you will not forget
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  • The lord your god, who brought you out of egypt."
  • 00:13:32.227 --> 00:13:37.065
  • So sometimes he says, "i let you get hungry
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  • So that you remember i'm the one that you need to look to
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  • To feed you."
  • 00:13:44.706 --> 00:13:46.040
  • So god says, "i send reminders along the way to let you know
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  • That i am and i alone am your source."
  • 00:13:51.312 --> 00:13:56.251
  • And when god shows up with a raven--
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  • That is, an unexpected negative--
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  • A raven is unclean--
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  • Negative way to meet a need is to let you know
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  • I even control unclean stuff
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  • To achieve my purposes for my people.
  • 00:14:11.966 --> 00:14:15.403
  • And when you have this view of god,
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  • This huge view of god, so that you don't make man
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  • Bigger than man ought to be,
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  • So that you don't make yourself bigger than you ought to be,
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  • It is to remind you that god alone is your provider.
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  • Okay, we're talking about a man of god,
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  • We're talking about somebody who says,
  • 00:14:35.023 --> 00:14:36.658
  • "i'm standing in god's place," because in life,
  • 00:14:36.658 --> 00:14:40.695
  • Things dry up.
  • 00:14:40.695 --> 00:14:42.964
  • In life, things don't always stay the same.
  • 00:14:42.964 --> 00:14:47.335
  • You can be up one day and crash the next day,
  • 00:14:47.335 --> 00:14:51.773
  • Because things dry up.
  • 00:14:51.773 --> 00:14:53.107
  • It says in verse 7, "and the brook dried up,
  • 00:14:53.107 --> 00:14:57.111
  • Because there was no rain," because there was a drought
  • 00:14:57.111 --> 00:15:01.249
  • In the land.
  • 00:15:01.249 --> 00:15:02.583
  • And many times, the drought of life catches up with us,
  • 00:15:02.583 --> 00:15:07.221
  • And things dry up.
  • 00:15:07.221 --> 00:15:08.723
  • Things aren't like, you know,
  • 00:15:08.723 --> 00:15:12.093
  • The exciting times, the vibrant times.
  • 00:15:12.093 --> 00:15:14.963
  • You wanna know how are we going to make it,
  • 00:15:14.963 --> 00:15:18.766
  • Because it's dried up.
  • 00:15:18.766 --> 00:15:20.468
  • Well, that's his situation.
  • 00:15:20.468 --> 00:15:23.671
  • Now, let me give you the secret.
  • 00:15:23.671 --> 00:15:26.808
  • When god is providing and things dry up,
  • 00:15:26.808 --> 00:15:32.814
  • It's because he's changing the resource.
  • 00:15:32.814 --> 00:15:37.485
  • When god is providing and then it's a wrap,
  • 00:15:37.485 --> 00:15:42.357
  • It stops, it's over
  • 00:15:42.357 --> 00:15:45.126
  • And you wanna know what's going on,
  • 00:15:45.126 --> 00:15:47.061
  • He's shifting something.
  • 00:15:47.061 --> 00:15:49.464
  • And in order for you to go with the shift,
  • 00:15:49.464 --> 00:15:51.699
  • He has to make you uncomfortable where you are.
  • 00:15:51.699 --> 00:15:54.402
  • And so what happens?
  • 00:15:54.402 --> 00:15:57.505
  • Things dried up and god says, in verse 9,
  • 00:15:57.505 --> 00:16:00.775
  • "arise, get up, go to zarephath.
  • 00:16:00.775 --> 00:16:05.813
  • I don't want you staying here anymore
  • 00:16:05.813 --> 00:16:07.515
  • At the brook, which belongs to sidon.
  • 00:16:07.515 --> 00:16:12.053
  • And stay there.
  • 00:16:12.053 --> 00:16:14.789
  • Behold, i have commanded a widow there to provide
  • 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:20.495
  • For you."
  • 00:16:20.495 --> 00:16:22.997
  • Okay, it's dry now, money is funny,
  • 00:16:22.997 --> 00:16:29.704
  • Needs are piling up.
  • 00:16:29.704 --> 00:16:33.775
  • "i want to move you, elijah, so i've dried up
  • 00:16:33.775 --> 00:16:37.645
  • Where you are and now i want you to go to zarephath."
  • 00:16:37.645 --> 00:16:42.216
  • Well, let's talk about zarephath.
  • 00:16:42.216 --> 00:16:45.286
  • Zarephath, if we're in the bible belt,
  • 00:16:45.286 --> 00:16:48.689
  • Zarephath was the baal belt, okay?
  • 00:16:48.689 --> 00:16:52.827
  • This is the area jezebel is from, okay?
  • 00:16:52.827 --> 00:16:57.165
  • So she's from this area, and it was the belt of paganism.
  • 00:16:57.165 --> 00:17:02.904
  • "i'm gonna tell you how to live in this pagan environment
  • 00:17:02.904 --> 00:17:07.141
  • Because i have some work for you to do there."
  • 00:17:07.141 --> 00:17:09.811
  • So if god has got you in an ungodly environment
  • 00:17:09.811 --> 00:17:13.014
  • And he hasn't given you a new resource to leave it,
  • 00:17:13.014 --> 00:17:16.117
  • He's expecting his presence to be felt there
  • 00:17:16.117 --> 00:17:18.986
  • Because you're in baal's territory.
  • 00:17:18.986 --> 00:17:21.456
  • And he wants his presence to now go
  • 00:17:21.456 --> 00:17:24.225
  • In that environment and be visibly recognized,
  • 00:17:24.225 --> 00:17:28.329
  • And so he sends elijah to zarephath.
  • 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:34.802
  • He's making his way to zarephath,
  • 00:17:34.802 --> 00:17:36.270
  • And we find out in verse 10 that there is a widow
  • 00:17:36.270 --> 00:17:40.842
  • And she's gathering some sticks.
  • 00:17:40.842 --> 00:17:44.812
  • And he asks for some water in verse 10.
  • 00:17:44.812 --> 00:17:48.282
  • She goes to get him some water, and then he says,
  • 00:17:48.282 --> 00:17:52.120
  • "please bring me a piece of bread in your hand."
  • 00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:56.524
  • "so you're going to get water,
  • 00:17:56.524 --> 00:17:57.892
  • But bring me now something to eat."
  • 00:17:57.892 --> 00:18:00.795
  • "but she says, 'as the lord your god lives,
  • 00:18:00.795 --> 00:18:06.033
  • I have no bread, only a handful of flour
  • 00:18:06.033 --> 00:18:09.937
  • In the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold,
  • 00:18:09.937 --> 00:18:13.474
  • I am gathering a few sticks that i may go in and prepare
  • 00:18:13.474 --> 00:18:16.878
  • For me and my son, that we may eat it and die.'"
  • 00:18:16.878 --> 00:18:21.349
  • So we got a widow in a pagan place
  • 00:18:21.349 --> 00:18:25.920
  • Who can't even help herself.
  • 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.623
  • When god is getting ready to move,
  • 00:18:28.623 --> 00:18:30.992
  • It often won't make sense.
  • 00:18:30.992 --> 00:18:33.694
  • When god is getting ready to move,
  • 00:18:33.694 --> 00:18:35.763
  • It often will not be logical.
  • 00:18:35.763 --> 00:18:39.500
  • You won't be able to put it in a test tube and figure it out
  • 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.770
  • Because he's doing something different, unique,
  • 00:18:42.770 --> 00:18:45.907
  • And often supernatural.
  • 00:18:45.907 --> 00:18:48.376
  • And because he's doing that and he wants to be seen
  • 00:18:48.376 --> 00:18:51.913
  • As the source that's doing it,
  • 00:18:51.913 --> 00:18:54.115
  • Here's what you have to understand.
  • 00:18:54.115 --> 00:18:56.250
  • When god is making provision, he's making provision
  • 00:18:56.250 --> 00:19:01.055
  • For more than just you.
  • 00:19:01.055 --> 00:19:06.127
  • You see, you're not the only one on his mind.
  • 00:19:06.127 --> 00:19:11.432
  • He is looking out for somebody other than you
  • 00:19:11.432 --> 00:19:14.502
  • While he has not forgotten you.
  • 00:19:14.502 --> 00:19:17.104
  • Because that is a biblical principle,
  • 00:19:17.104 --> 00:19:19.373
  • Luke 6:38, "give, and it will be given
  • 00:19:19.373 --> 00:19:22.043
  • To you...pressed down."
  • 00:19:22.043 --> 00:19:23.377
  • In other words, god is gonna work for you,
  • 00:19:23.377 --> 00:19:25.813
  • But he wants to work through you so that he can be a blessing
  • 00:19:25.813 --> 00:19:29.150
  • From you for somebody else.
  • 00:19:29.150 --> 00:19:32.553
  • This widow has the same need as the preacher.
  • 00:19:32.553 --> 00:19:36.591
  • Both of them are hungry.
  • 00:19:36.591 --> 00:19:38.893
  • The preacher needs something to eat
  • 00:19:38.893 --> 00:19:40.661
  • And she needs something to eat
  • 00:19:40.661 --> 00:19:41.996
  • Because she's down to her last meal.
  • 00:19:41.996 --> 00:19:44.865
  • God tells the woman, "i want you to make
  • 00:19:44.865 --> 00:19:47.268
  • A spiritual decision."
  • 00:19:47.268 --> 00:19:49.470
  • To give to elijah meant a spiritual decision
  • 00:19:49.470 --> 00:19:53.474
  • Because she's doing it in the name of his god,
  • 00:19:53.474 --> 00:19:56.277
  • So he's gonna see whether she makes a spiritual decision.
  • 00:19:56.277 --> 00:20:01.282
  • One of the tests of your provider,
  • 00:20:01.282 --> 00:20:04.485
  • God, your only source,
  • 00:20:04.485 --> 00:20:06.621
  • Is will you make spiritual decisions first
  • 00:20:06.621 --> 00:20:10.658
  • Or will you go to your resource first?
  • 00:20:10.658 --> 00:20:15.396
  • Because that's your real god, so that's who you went to first.
  • 00:20:15.396 --> 00:20:19.600
  • He says, "give me bread."
  • 00:20:19.600 --> 00:20:23.638
  • She says, "i only have one meal.
  • 00:20:23.638 --> 00:20:27.808
  • What you're asking for is not practical."
  • 00:20:27.808 --> 00:20:30.845
  • He says in verse 13, "do not fear,"
  • 00:20:30.845 --> 00:20:36.751
  • So she's scared, she's terrified,
  • 00:20:36.751 --> 00:20:41.989
  • Because faith often involves fear.
  • 00:20:41.989 --> 00:20:46.894
  • Let me correct something.
  • 00:20:46.894 --> 00:20:48.929
  • Because there's a common thought--
  • 00:20:48.929 --> 00:20:51.599
  • "if i have fear, i must not have faith."
  • 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:56.704
  • It's not true, that's not true.
  • 00:20:56.704 --> 00:21:01.909
  • Faith will often engender fear
  • 00:21:01.909 --> 00:21:05.546
  • Because faith involves something you don't see.
  • 00:21:05.546 --> 00:21:09.317
  • And because faith involves something you don't see,
  • 00:21:09.317 --> 00:21:12.119
  • That means you're taking a risk.
  • 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:14.355
  • And whenever you take a risk of uncertainty
  • 00:21:14.355 --> 00:21:16.857
  • And it's a major item, you often can't control
  • 00:21:16.857 --> 00:21:20.161
  • What your emotions say.
  • 00:21:20.161 --> 00:21:22.129
  • Your emotions tell you you're scared.
  • 00:21:22.129 --> 00:21:23.764
  • Now, you can be all super spiritual if you want to.
  • 00:21:23.764 --> 00:21:28.569
  • "perfect love casts out fear.
  • 00:21:28.569 --> 00:21:30.905
  • God has delivered me from the spirit of fear."
  • 00:21:30.905 --> 00:21:33.374
  • Well, he may have delivered you from the spirit of fear,
  • 00:21:33.374 --> 00:21:35.343
  • But not from the emotion of fear.
  • 00:21:35.343 --> 00:21:37.878
  • You right now-- you right now are struggling
  • 00:21:37.878 --> 00:21:41.349
  • 'cause you are terrified.
  • 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:43.584
  • This woman is afraid, but what she doesn't do
  • 00:21:43.584 --> 00:21:49.457
  • Is yield to her fear.
  • 00:21:49.457 --> 00:21:51.592
  • She has it, but she doesn't yield to it.
  • 00:21:51.592 --> 00:21:55.596
  • That's when you know you have faith--
  • 00:21:55.596 --> 00:21:57.131
  • When fear doesn't win,
  • 00:21:57.131 --> 00:21:59.300
  • Not when fear is not there, okay?
  • 00:21:59.300 --> 00:22:02.103
  • You regularly see throughout the bible
  • 00:22:02.103 --> 00:22:03.571
  • Where people are afraid of this and afraid of that
  • 00:22:03.571 --> 00:22:05.306
  • And afraid of that,
  • 00:22:05.306 --> 00:22:06.640
  • But the question is did feet move in faith
  • 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:09.577
  • Even though feelings were working in fear?
  • 00:22:09.577 --> 00:22:13.280
  • And so she says, "i'm going to take a faith risk,
  • 00:22:13.280 --> 00:22:17.551
  • Even though i have a fear reality.
  • 00:22:17.551 --> 00:22:20.755
  • And even though i have a fear reality,
  • 00:22:20.755 --> 00:22:23.057
  • I'm willing to take a faith risk."
  • 00:22:23.057 --> 00:22:26.160
  • And when she does, it says,
  • 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.597
  • "thus saith the lord god of israel,"
  • 00:22:29.597 --> 00:22:31.732
  • Verse 14, "'the bowl of flour shall not be exhausted,
  • 00:22:31.732 --> 00:22:36.170
  • Nor shall the jar of oil be empty,
  • 00:22:36.170 --> 00:22:39.039
  • Until the day that the lord sends rain
  • 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:41.876
  • On the face of the earth.'
  • 00:22:41.876 --> 00:22:43.644
  • So she went and did according to the word of elijah,
  • 00:22:43.644 --> 00:22:47.481
  • And she and he and her house"-- that is, her son--
  • 00:22:47.481 --> 00:22:51.018
  • "and her household ate for many days.
  • 00:22:51.018 --> 00:22:54.088
  • The bowl of flour was not exhausted
  • 00:22:54.088 --> 00:22:58.559
  • Nor did the jar of oil become empty,
  • 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:02.530
  • According to the word of the lord
  • 00:23:02.530 --> 00:23:04.732
  • Which he spoke through elijah."
  • 00:23:04.732 --> 00:23:08.736
  • What this woman experienced was god stretching what she had
  • 00:23:08.736 --> 00:23:15.509
  • So it didn't run out.
  • 00:23:15.509 --> 00:23:17.144
  • This widow's story is not over.
  • 00:23:17.144 --> 00:23:20.514
  • We read the story in 1 kings 17.
  • 00:23:20.514 --> 00:23:22.783
  • That's the story of god being the provider for her
  • 00:23:22.783 --> 00:23:26.287
  • In a supernatural way.
  • 00:23:26.287 --> 00:23:27.888
  • But her story is not over, because hundreds of years later,
  • 00:23:27.888 --> 00:23:33.327
  • Jesus brings her up again.
  • 00:23:33.327 --> 00:23:35.896
  • And he brings her up again in luke chapter 4.
  • 00:23:35.896 --> 00:23:39.567
  • Jesus is teaching in the synagogue
  • 00:23:39.567 --> 00:23:42.269
  • And while jesus is teaching in the synagogue,
  • 00:23:42.269 --> 00:23:46.173
  • The people listening to his teaching
  • 00:23:46.173 --> 00:23:48.309
  • Begin to question him, question his authority.
  • 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:53.013
  • They don't believe that this man from nazareth
  • 00:23:53.013 --> 00:23:55.216
  • Can be the messiah,
  • 00:23:55.216 --> 00:23:56.550
  • And so they question his authority.
  • 00:23:56.550 --> 00:23:58.152
  • And when they question his authority,
  • 00:23:58.152 --> 00:24:01.055
  • It says in verse 22 of luke 4,
  • 00:24:01.055 --> 00:24:03.691
  • "and all were speaking well of him,
  • 00:24:03.691 --> 00:24:06.827
  • And wondering all of his gracious words
  • 00:24:06.827 --> 00:24:08.863
  • Which were falling from his lips;
  • 00:24:08.863 --> 00:24:11.232
  • And they were saying, 'is this not joseph's son?'"
  • 00:24:11.232 --> 00:24:15.736
  • Who is this guy?
  • 00:24:15.736 --> 00:24:18.405
  • We're speaking well of him, but he's not him.
  • 00:24:18.405 --> 00:24:20.374
  • He's just a normal man.
  • 00:24:20.374 --> 00:24:23.811
  • "and he said to them, 'no doubt you will quote
  • 00:24:23.811 --> 00:24:27.548
  • This proverb to me, "physician, heal yourself!
  • 00:24:27.548 --> 00:24:32.486
  • Whatever we heard was done at capernaum,
  • 00:24:32.486 --> 00:24:35.122
  • Do here in your hometown as well."'"
  • 00:24:35.122 --> 00:24:37.525
  • We're not buying your words.
  • 00:24:37.525 --> 00:24:40.361
  • "truly i say unto you, no prophet is welcome
  • 00:24:40.361 --> 00:24:43.264
  • In his hometown."
  • 00:24:43.264 --> 00:24:45.666
  • Now watch this, verse 25, "but i say to you in truth,
  • 00:24:45.666 --> 00:24:51.138
  • There were many widows in israel,"
  • 00:24:51.138 --> 00:24:54.975
  • Lot of widows among god's people,
  • 00:24:54.975 --> 00:24:58.679
  • "in the days of elijah"--
  • 00:24:58.679 --> 00:25:00.748
  • Oh, so he just went all the way back
  • 00:25:00.748 --> 00:25:02.316
  • To 1 kings 17--"when the sky was shut up for three years
  • 00:25:02.316 --> 00:25:06.887
  • And six months, when a great famine came
  • 00:25:06.887 --> 00:25:10.524
  • Over all the land," so jesus was going back,
  • 00:25:10.524 --> 00:25:14.595
  • "and yet elijah was sent to none of them,
  • 00:25:14.595 --> 00:25:20.935
  • But only to zarephath, in the land of sidon,
  • 00:25:20.935 --> 00:25:26.941
  • To a woman who was a widow."
  • 00:25:26.941 --> 00:25:32.112
  • Jesus brings her up hundreds of years later
  • 00:25:32.112 --> 00:25:37.418
  • To a doubting congregation.
  • 00:25:37.418 --> 00:25:39.753
  • They weren't buying it.
  • 00:25:39.753 --> 00:25:41.488
  • Jesus says, "well, let me tell you
  • 00:25:41.488 --> 00:25:43.490
  • About something happened in the old testament."
  • 00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:46.193
  • He said, "there were many widows in israel,
  • 00:25:46.193 --> 00:25:49.930
  • Many widows among god's people, israel,
  • 00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:54.435
  • But elijah wasn't sent to none of them."
  • 00:25:54.435 --> 00:25:57.972
  • They were in the same situation,
  • 00:25:57.972 --> 00:25:59.773
  • But they didn't get the miracle.
  • 00:25:59.773 --> 00:26:01.809
  • They were in the same situation, but they didn't get the benefit.
  • 00:26:01.809 --> 00:26:04.979
  • Only the widow of zarephath, the pagan woman,
  • 00:26:04.979 --> 00:26:09.450
  • The unbelieving woman, the woman who was--
  • 00:26:09.450 --> 00:26:12.386
  • Who was not part of the religious environment.
  • 00:26:12.386 --> 00:26:16.290
  • The man of god was sent to her and not to them
  • 00:26:16.290 --> 00:26:21.128
  • Because she was the only one who was gonna believe
  • 00:26:21.128 --> 00:26:24.365
  • The preacher's word.
  • 00:26:24.365 --> 00:26:25.799
  • And because she was the only one, this outsider,
  • 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:29.570
  • Who believed the preacher's word,
  • 00:26:29.570 --> 00:26:32.072
  • The insiders didn't get it.
  • 00:26:32.072 --> 00:26:34.541
  • The church folk didn't get it, the outsiders.
  • 00:26:34.541 --> 00:26:38.012
  • So you could have people outside the church
  • 00:26:38.012 --> 00:26:41.315
  • Better off than folk inside the church
  • 00:26:41.315 --> 00:26:44.451
  • Because they do something with what god said
  • 00:26:44.451 --> 00:26:48.022
  • Like the gentile widow of zarephath did.
  • 00:26:48.022 --> 00:26:52.026
  • So you can make your own decision
  • 00:26:52.026 --> 00:26:54.061
  • About who your source is.
  • 00:26:54.061 --> 00:26:55.996
  • You can decide you're gonna make all this human stuff your source
  • 00:26:55.996 --> 00:26:59.833
  • And when it dries up, do the best you can,
  • 00:26:59.833 --> 00:27:02.736
  • Or you can make the decision:
  • 00:27:02.736 --> 00:27:04.571
  • I only have one source, and that's in heaven.
  • 00:27:04.571 --> 00:27:07.875
  • So if my resource goes left, that's okay
  • 00:27:07.875 --> 00:27:11.412
  • Because that resource is not the source.
  • 00:27:11.412 --> 00:27:14.314
  • So i'm gonna watch the source give me a new resource,
  • 00:27:14.314 --> 00:27:17.551
  • Because i only have one source and i'm gonna follow him.
  • 00:27:17.551 --> 00:27:21.255
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:21.255 --> 00:27:21.255