BAD STUFF HAPPENS TO GOOD PEOPLE
BUT GOD
2 Kings 4:1-7
INTRODUCTION
(o-ba-di'-a) (±obhadhyah, more fully ±obhadhyahu, "servant of
Yahweh"):
The steward or prime minister
of Ahab, who did his best to protect the prophets of Yahweh against Jezebel's
persecution.
Obadiah was one of God’s
flowers. He served the Lord. But he died
leaving his wife and two sons
destitute. He owed money to a creditor.
The creditor had the right to
take his sons as slaves to pay the debt.
His wife lived in a community
that did not come to her rescue.
Her neighbors may not have
known her situation or knew, but would
Not help. We are presented
only with her desperate condition.
GOOD PROPLE FACE BAD
SITUATIONS
V:1 The wife of a man from
the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband
is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord . But now his creditor is coming
to take my two boys as his slaves."
A. Some say Obadiah borrowed
money to support the ministry of God.
1. When he died, his wife was left with
nothing but debt.
2. On the surface that may be true, but he
left his family with something
more valuable than a bank account.
B. Obidiah left his wife with
a knowledge of God.
1. His work for the Lord stored up
treasures in heaven
Matt 6:20-21
But store up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where moth and rust
do not destroy, and where thieves do
not break in and steal. 21 For
where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.
2. The best thing we can do for our
families is to teach them to trust
the Lord.
3. By our example, we teach our families
to devote themselves to the
Lord.
4. Teach your children to go to God in
prayer for all their needs.
Phil 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by
prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God.
TAKE YOU PROBLEM TO THE
LORD
V:2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help
you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has
nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
A. The Lord is waiting on your
prayer
1. He is waiting on you to ask for what you
need.
2 Chron
6:19-20
Yet give attention to your servant's
prayer and his plea for mercy, O
Lord
my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying
in your presence.
2.
Your prayers activates God power in your life.
3. What
you have is enough in the hands of the Lord.
4. The first thing you need to do is put
your problem in the
hands of the Lord.
5. Your situation is God’s
opportunity to perform a miracle
before your eyes.
a. He used the staff of Moses to show
His power
b. He used a boys lunch to feed 5000
men plus women and
children.
Matt 16:8-10
You of little faith, why are you
talking among yourselves about
having no bread? 9 Do you still
not understand? Don't you
remember the five loaves for the
five thousand, and how many
basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the
seven loaves for the four
thousand, and how many basketfuls
you gathered?
6.
Do you remember what God has done in your past?
7. When you have a problem the worst thing
you can do is
to forget that it is God that
sustains you.
8. It is God who puts us in situations
where we can learn to
trust Him.
9. It is possible, as the wife of a
prophet, the woman’s trust in
God had
never been tested.
10. When we teach our families to trust the
Lord, we set them up to
be tested by Him.
Prov 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old, he will
not depart from it.
11. You and I have to practice in front of
our families trusting the Lord.
a. Obadiah working for Ahab, risk
his life to save 100 of God’s
prophets from Jezebel’s persecution.
b. God needs no reminder, but He
loves to hear the testimony of your
service.
12. God loves families. He will not
leave them begging bread.
Matt 19:29-30
And everyone who has left houses or
brothers or sisters or father or
Mother or children or fields for my
sake will receive a hundred
times as much and will inherit
eternal life.
WAIT ON THE LORD FOR
DIRECTIONS
V:3 Elisha said, "Go
around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 4
Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all
the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
A. The number of jars she
collected was the measure of her faith.
1. At this point the woman had no idea
what she would do with the
jars.
2. Sometimes, what God tells us to do may
not make sense.
3. She was destitute with a number of jars.
4. God will bless us, but we must work for
the blessing.
5. God uses you in the miracles He
performs for you.
6. God will bless you with a job, but you
have to go looking.
B. When God is working with
you, you neighbors don’t
need to know.
Matt 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly.
1. God works with you in private to keep
your neighbors from
casting doubt in your mind.
2. You need a calmness of mind to do what
God ask you to do.
C. Seeing the little oil she
had fill the many jars she borrowed
from her neighbors was the miracle she and
her sons witnessed.
1. Let me suggest that seeds of goodness
Obadiah sowed were
harvested with the filling of the jars
with oil.
2. The treasures Obadiah stored in heaven
by his service
were withdrawn by his wife and sons.
3. Your bank account may not reflect the
blessing God has for you.
FOLLOW GODS DIRECTIONS
V:5 She left him and
afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her
and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son,
"Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There
is not a jar left." Then the oil
stopped flowing.
A. Once she filled the last
Jar she collected, the oil she used
stopped flowing.
1. She had jars of oil, but still destitute.
2.
When God is working with us, we must continue listening
to His voice.
3. You can have a lot, but don’t know what
to do with it.
LET THE LORD ORDER YOUR
STEPS
V:7 She went and told the man
of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your
sons can live on what is left."
A. Pray without ceasing.
1. Continue listening for a word from the
Lord through out
your life.
2. You are never in a situation where you
can determine the outcome.
B. God created a market for
the sell of the oil.
1. God brought people with money to her to
buy all the
oil.
2. God does not tell us how many jars of
oil she sold.
3. What God tells us is she had enough from
the sell to
pay off her debt and enough left to
live on.
LIFE IS FULL OF UPS AND
DOWNS. IT’S THE TRUST
YOU HAVE IN GOD THAT
DETERMINES THE QUALITY
OF YOUR LIFE.
Let me leave you with this
acronym ; PLOT
P pray without
ceasing. Take your problem to the Lord FIRST.
L listen, expecting
God to give you directions.
O obey the
commands from God and follow
His directions immediately.
T Trust the Lord expecting Him to do
exceedingly,
abundantly more than you can ask of conceive.
Carry your problems to God
with thanksgiving.
When you Got a problem P L
O T
Rev. M. Mitchell
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