Practical Living

Dale O'Shields: Thank you for joining us for today's Practical Living broadcast. I pray that through this message, you will learn how to apply God's word and truths to any situation in your life. Stay with us as we discover God's truths that will transform us.

Today I want to continue our series together entitled Lifequakes. We'll talk about what we talked about last weekend as we continue the theme together: learning to respond to crisis points in our lives. Lifequakes is our series title, and we've been talking about how to handle the blows of life. Sometimes life can be really hard to deal with. Sometimes we go through transitional points in life that are difficult, where we lose our equilibrium as we're going through it and feel banged up by life. Sometimes many bad things seem to come our way or hard things we're trying to handle, and they shake us up in some manner.

Jesus said that everybody experiences lifequakes. In Matthew chapter seven, he described two men that were building houses. One man built his house on the rock and another man on sand. The Bible says Jesus said that the rain, the storm, and the winds came to both people. Both of them experienced it: the man whose house was on sand and the man whose house was on the rock. They both experienced the lifequakes.

But one man's house stood. It stood firm because it was built on the rock. That rock, as Jesus identifies there, is the word of God—obedience to God's word. So Jesus helps us to understand that even though we will all experience shaky moments in life, we can have a firm foundation upon which to stand in our relationship to God and our relationship to his word, obedience to his word.

We've talked about a variety of lifequakes. A few weekends ago we talked about grief and loss, how it shakes us up. Last weekend we started talking about crisis. That word "crisis" is a big bundle of things that happen. Let me give you my definition for crisis as we're looking at this topic together. A crisis, as I'm defining it here, is anything that feels like a threatening moment in your life. Something comes up and you have to make a decision, but neither way seems to be positive. You're not quite sure how things are going to turn out, and it feels very dangerous to you.

Crisis moments usually come upon us suddenly. It's not something you plan for. No one plans for a crisis; they just show up in your life. When you experience a crisis, if you're like me, I have all kinds of emotions in those moments. I feel some panic at times, and sometimes I feel afraid, anxious, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do in the midst of all this. I'm sure that you can identify with that as well.

All these crisis moments shake us up in our emotions. So how do we settle down? How do we get an anchor that will guide us through these shaky moments when crisis points come our way? We're taking a look at the Old Testament story of a man by the name of Elijah. Elijah faced a number of different crisis points in his life. We're looking primarily at two of these points in Elijah's life and what we can learn from them and what we need to remember when we're going through a crisis.

What do we need to recall and bring back into our mind and our focus to get us through these moments, to keep us steady in the times when we would be shaken by these points of life? There are four things we're looking at. I want to review for you the two things we talked about last weekend, then I'll share two more with us this weekend. Last weekend I reminded us that when you're going through a crisis, you need to remember that God sees, God cares, God protects, and God provides. I asked you last weekend to say those phrases with me. Let's do it again today: God sees, God cares, God protects, and God provides. We see this very clearly in the story of Elijah.

Let me paint for you the picture of Elijah's life and how he comes on the scene in terms of ministry. Today's text in just a moment will get to First Kings chapter 17, but let me describe what's going on in this particular time in Israel's history. During this time in Israel's history, there was a king by the name of Ahab and his wife named Jezebel. They were very evil people, very idolatrous people. They were leading Israel into idolatry. The Bible is very clear about the wickedness of Ahab.

In First Kings chapter 16, verse 33, here's the description given to Ahab: "Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him." That's a terrible thing to be known by—that you've done worse than anybody else before you. Here is Ahab and, of course, his wife Jezebel, and they've done all kind of terrible things. So Elijah is raised up by God and sent to King Ahab and Jezebel to proclaim judgment. God is going to bring judgment on the land.

So he prophesies about this. The prophecy that he gives to Ahab and Jezebel is a prophecy of coming famine. We see this in First Kings chapter 17, verse number one: "Now Elijah who was from Tishbe in Gilead told King Ahab, 'As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, the God I serve, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word.'" Elijah bravely and courageously goes before Ahab and says, "Ahab, you've got to know what's going to happen here. There will be no rain in the land."

Now this was an agricultural society, and when there's no rain, there are no crops. When there are no crops, there's no food. So what's going to happen is a great famine is going to pass through the land. Ahab is being warned about this; judgment is coming. The whole goal of Elijah's prophecy of judgment was to bring Ahab and Jezebel to repentance. God, in his judgment, is always working to bring us to repentance. He's not there to punish people; he's there to bring you back to a relationship with himself.

But Ahab and Jezebel rejected that, and so they became very angry at Elijah. Their desire now is to kill him. They think if they can get Elijah out of the picture, everything's going to be fine. They can go their merry way if Elijah's not proclaiming all these terrible things to them. So they're going to kill him, and Elijah is facing a crisis. He's under the threat of death. Ahab and Jezebel have marked him as a target. Not only is he facing potential death, but he's got to be provided for because there's going to be no rain, no crops, and no food in Israel.

How will Elijah survive? God had a miraculous plan for Elijah, and that miraculous plan is described in First Kings chapter 17, beginning in verse number two. As soon as Elijah has spoken these words to Ahab, notice what happens next: "Then the Lord said to Elijah, 'Go to the east and hide by the Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I've commanded them to bring you food.'" Verse six: "The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook." This is the original DoorDash.

God said, "Here's what I'm going to do for you: I'm going to hide you by this brook. Ahab and Jezebel will not be able to find you; you're taken care of. I'm going to provide protection for you. But I will also provide for you the sustenance that you need. The brook will not dry up until a certain period of time; the water will be there for you. I'm going to send birds every day; they'll drop your groceries off every morning. All that you have need of in terms of your physical sustenance will be provided for by me, and the birds will be my delivery system to you."

It's an amazing miracle that transpires. What you see in this miracle is that God saw Elijah in his crisis, God cared about Elijah in his crisis, God protected Elijah in his crisis, and God provided for Elijah in his crisis. I want you to say with me again: God sees, God cares, God protects, and God provides. Let's try it again: God sees, God cares, God protects, and God provides. When you're going through a crisis, remember that. Don't forget it.

The second thing to remember is that in your times of crisis, God has many ways to meet your need. This is interesting in the story because this situation with the brook and the ravens doesn't last forever. In fact, there's a time when the brook dries up and the ravens are gone away. Elijah has to learn that he's not dependent upon the brook and he's not dependent upon the ravens; he has his confidence and dependency in God.

There will be times in all of our lives when the brooks will seem to dry up and the ravens will go away and we'll say, "My goodness, what's happening in my life? It seems as though the thing that was providing for me is not there anymore." God says, "Don't worry, because even though those things have gone away, I've not gone away." Every time that God closes a door in your life, God has another door that he will open for you. We're going to see how God opened another incredible door for Elijah in this season of his life.

But the brook dried up and the ravens were gone, but God was still there. So remember that God sees you, God cares about you, God will provide for you and protect you, and how God does this, he can do it in all kinds of ways. There are all kinds of ways that God has to actually do these very things in our lives. That leads me to my first of two points today. I want you to remember, encourage you to remember in times of crisis, that God meets needs in surprising ways. Not only in many ways, but in surprising ways.

For several years, as we've already talked about, Elijah was by the brook and he was taken care of. But then it dries up. Now what is he going to do? What instruction does God give Elijah after he finds himself with a dried-up brook and no birds around anymore with his groceries? What is he going to do now? So God gives him another set of instructions. God is going to open up another door for him, because this door has shut but God has not left him.

Another door is going to open, and in verse number nine of First Kings chapter 17, we see God opening this next door for Elijah: "Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food." God says, "Elijah, the birds are gone, the brook's dried up, but I'm going to send you to a new place. There's another door opening for you. I want you to go to Zarephath, and there's a widow there." This is a very important statement.

When you think about a widow, you would normally think about poverty. But I suppose there are certain rich widows that exist, and so I would have certainly assumed that if God was going to send him to a widow that was going to take care of him, she certainly must have been very wealthy. Certainly, she had enough means to be able to take care of Elijah. So we need to understand: What was the financial condition of this widow? What situation was she in economically?

Well, the Bible goes on to tell us about her condition. Verse number 10: "So Elijah went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, 'Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?'" Notice what he first asks for: a little bit of water. What was going on in Israel during this time? It was a drought, and so one of the most precious things anyone could have was water. If you're in a drought, you really care about your water.

So the first thing that Elijah does when he shows up on the scene there—these seem to be the very first words, we don't know that maybe if he has any other conversation with the lady or not, but it seems like he walks into her environment and says, "By the way, give me some water." It's pretty brash, right? The most precious thing or one of those precious things that she likely had in her possession at that moment was a bit of water. Elijah asks for it.

In fact, he goes on to say in verse 11: "As she was going to get it, he called, 'And bring me, please, a piece of bread.'" "As surely as the Lord lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die." Think about this. Here's the prophet of God walking up to a widow and he steps into her environment and he says, "First thing, give me some water. And by the way, I want some food too."

This story will never make sense to you unless you understand that Elijah's not asking for Elijah; Elijah is a representative of God in this moment. He's a person that's stepping in as a representative of God that's going to release a tremendous amount of blessing into this family's life, but this widow has to learn how to respond. Nothing about this story makes any sense at all. Why would you send someone to someone's house to be taken care of when they were baking their last piece of bread and they're going to eat it with their son and die?

Why would God send Elijah to a poor widow? Why in the world would he do something like that? It makes no sense at all until you really get underneath the story here and understand the principles that are going on in this particular passage and the lessons God wants to teach us. There are at least three primary lessons that God wants to teach us through what's happening here—this idea that God works in surprising ways.

The first lesson is to understand that God sees value in small things, and God sees value in seemingly insignificant people. Here is this widow and she has very little, small resources, and she seems to be an insignificant person. But what looked like an insignificant person on the outside and small resources, God saw behind that a heart that was willing to respond to him. When God looks at our world today, he's not impressed by our net worth; he's not impressed by our positions; he's not impressed by our titles.

Those things do not impress God. What impresses God is the condition of our heart. God looked down and saw something in the heart of this lady that went far beyond anything that represented resources or bigness. Yes, she had small resources and she was an insignificant person, but God saw her and God placed value in her. I would remind you today that in your life, when you feel very small or feel like you have small resources or you feel very insignificant, when God looks at you, he's looking at your heart.

God's not looking at what you have; he's looking at who you are. There's a big difference in that. It's vital to recognize that. First Corinthians chapter one, verses 27 and 28: "Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they're wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important." God flips everything on its head and says what you think is valuable is not always valuable to me.

Back in the late 1700s, there was a man who was a shoemaker, a cobbler, back in the United Kingdom. He repaired shoes for a living. He was a good cobbler, he was great with shoes, but he loved God with all of his heart and he had a deep desire to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. His name was William Carey. William Carey would often, as he sat at his bench there repairing shoes and making shoes, have a handmade map of the world that he kept near him.

He would gaze at that map while he's working on shoes, and often times as he's working his craft, he would pray for the world. He would pray for people who did not know Jesus, asking God to reach people around the world, never knowing that one day God would speak to his heart—a little cobbler, a shoemaker, hidden away in a little village in England—and God would speak to him and say, "I want you to go into the world and preach the gospel."

William Carey eventually received a call from God and left his craft of shoemaking and went and preached the gospel in India and turned that nation upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He gave many natives of India a translation of the Bible in their own language. William Carey became known as the father of modern missions. God reached down into a little shop and found someone that seemed small and insignificant and said, "I've got a big work for you to do. You may not feel as though you qualify, but I see your heart."

Always remember that God is not looking at what you have; he's looking at who you are. The most important thing we can develop in our lives is a heart for God. Somehow God saw in this little widow a heart, even though she had little, she had a heart that was willing to sacrifice for God to do the right thing in her situation. The second lesson that we learn from this story is also a very important lesson: God's care for us should actually bring blessings to others.

There's a part of this story where Elijah is going to the home of the widow to be taken care of himself, but there was a bigger plan here. The plan was not just for Elijah to be taken care of, but God had a plan for this widow also. As God was taking care of Elijah, indeed this widow and her son would be taken care of as well. So the blessing went beyond Elijah to other people. One of the things that concerns me in our world today, and oftentimes even concerns me in the church world today, is that I think we're far too focused on "what's in this for me?"

What's my ministry? What's God going to do for me? We lose perspective of the fact that it's not all about just you; it's not all about just me. Whatever God does in our lives goes beyond just us, but it's to be a blessing for those around us. Jesus taught us to pray: "Our Father which art in heaven"—not "my Father" but "our Father." Now, he is my Father, but it goes beyond him just being my Father; he's our Father which art in heaven. It's a collective dimension of realizing this is not just about me and mine; it's about us.

"Give us today our daily bread." Most of us pray that prayer: "Give me today my daily bread." No, Jesus said pray: "Give us, us, us today our daily bread." That's called a plural pronoun; it includes other people. Galatians chapter six, verse two says, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." "One another"—it's a powerful phrase, isn't it? "One another." I did a little bit of research on that one little phrase, "one another," and I wanted to know how many times in the New Testament "one another" is found.

Of course, it all depends on the translation. I normally use the NIV translation, and so 100 times in the NIV translation of the Bible, you will find in the New Testament "one another, one another"—love one another, be kind to one another, one another, one another, one another, all through the pages of scripture. 100 times God says think about one another, not just yourself. This little widow had to learn that she's going to be the beneficiary of the blessings that come through Elijah to her and to her family.

Even Abraham learned this. When God spoke to Abraham and called him to form a new nation, notice the words of God to Abraham: "I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make you famous." It doesn't stop there. "And you will be a blessing to others." God says, "Abraham, I'm going to bless you, but you're blessed to be a blessing to someone else." Can I remind you today that in your life, it's vital to realize first and foremost that you may feel small and insignificant, but God's not looking at what you have; he's looking at who you are.

When he blesses you, he's blessing you so you can be a blessing to someone else. But there's a third lesson here, and I think this is perhaps the most important lesson that we see in this story: God is determined to actually teach us the importance and the blessings of giving. I think this is hidden here in this story. You have to sort of dig out a little bit to understand what's going on here. When Elijah comes to this widow, what's the first thing he asks for? Water.

What did I tell you a moment ago? What was one of the most precious things the lady had at this moment? Water. Why? There's a drought in the land; there's no water. So the first thing that Elijah does—and remember that Elijah's a representative of God—it's like God saying to this widow, "Give me the most precious thing you have right now. Before you do anything else, give me what you have and by the way, bake me some bread."

There in that moment, this lady is going to have to make a decision what she's going to do. "Will I give him my water? Will I bake him this bread?" She's got a little bit of flour, a little bit of oil, gathering some sticks, going to bake her final little loaf here, and she and her son will eat and die. After that, she has to determine what she's going to do as God is placing a demand, a request upon her resources. Do you know that God will show up in your life sometimes and make a demand on your resources?

He'll make a claim to something that you have. This is exactly what's going on. She has to decide: "Am I going to give or not give?" She has to realize that her future is going to be determined by how she responds to this question. "If I give the water and if I give this last piece of bread, what does this mean for me?" She has to have some level of trust and confidence that, in doing so, God will take care of her.

There's this request coming her way to actually become a giver, and this is something I believe that God works on in our lives through our entire life: that God is always looking to stretch our hearts to make us more generous than we've been in the past. God wants to make you a giver. Now, I want you to relax this morning because I'm not about to take up an offering; this is not about money. It affects your money, but it's far more than money. I've known people who gave money but they were miserly in every other part of their life.

They would give money and give it with strings attached and all kind of manipulative approaches to things, so they weren't really generous; they were giving to get what they wanted. So it's not just about your money; it is about your money, but it's beyond that. It's about every realm of your life—that God wants to make you and I a generous person. Because to be generous is to be like God. Did you hear what I just said? How do we know this? "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son."

Giving is the nature of God; giving is the nature of love. The Bible is very clear about the fact that God wants to stretch our hearts and to make us magnanimous, generous, big-hearted people. Proverbs 11, verses 24 and 25: "One person gives freely and yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." The Bible says that generosity is the way to prosperity.

Let me just pause for a moment to make sure we understand this. That's not talking about getting lots of money; you'll be prosperous in that sense. God blesses and we understand that, we appreciate that. But you can have a lot of money and be miserable. So prosperity goes far beyond just having a nice bank account. Prosperity is the blessing of God on your life. The Bible says, "One person gives freely and yet they gain even more. Another withholds unduly but they come to poverty, and a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."

Second Corinthians chapter nine, verses six through eight, the apostle Paul expounds on this principle as well. He says, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." And then notice the promise: "And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Same chapter, verse number 10: "For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God." I read a story many years ago, and I cannot recall where I read it. I can't get back to the source, and I'm going to try to recall it for you to the best of my ability.

I think it's a true story from what I remember reading. The setting of the story was somewhere in Africa during a time of drought. There was a farmer there with a family and he's getting down to his last bit of food. He sees he has a little bit of grain left, and he has his seed left for the next harvest. So he has to make the decision of whether he's going to eat his seed—his family will eat his bag of seed—or whether he will save his seed to plant for the future.

Will he use that seed to plant? Will he throw that seed into the ground, trusting for a harvest in the future, or will he consume his seed? Through tears and through agony, finally the decision was made: "We're not going to eat our seed; we're going to put it in the ground and trust God to actually bring rain upon it." Indeed, eventually according to the story as I recall it, rain came and the harvest came. But here's the story, the idea: He made a critical strategic decision not to eat his seed.

If you eat your seed, you're destroying your future. You can eat your seed and eat for a day, or you can plant your seed and eat for decades. So God comes to us and says, "What will you do with your seed?" There are some things that I've seeded you with in your life. For the little widow, it was the seed of just a little bit of water. For this widow, it was the seed of just a little bit of flour and oil. But she had to make the decision to give it away—to plant it, if you will—to put it in the ground and say, "God, I'm trusting you with my seed."

Of course we know what happened as a part of that: God brought a tremendous harvest. I will tell you something: You will never give your seed unless you trust God. You will never throw your seed out and give your seed to God—whatever that seed might be, whether it's time or money or resources or your gifts, your abilities, whatever it might be that God asks you to be generous with—you will never do that if you don't trust him. You have to trust him to obey him.

If you don't trust him, you won't obey him. Trust really is the whole issue behind giving. The whole issue behind giving is never about what you've got; God already has everything. You think he needs something from you? Do you really think God needs something from you? He doesn't need anything from you. God has everything, but God needs you to trust him. He wants you to trust him. He wants a relationship of trust with you. That's why he comes and says, "What will you do with the seed in your life?"

When you give your seed, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything you could ever ask or imagine. It's all through the Bible. Do you know that God is able to bring water from a rock? Exodus chapter 17, Numbers chapter 20: Moses spoke and struck the rock and there was water that came out of a rock for the people in the wilderness. Do you not know that God was able to rain down manna from heaven and feed his people for 40 years? God brought everything that was needed to sustain them each and every day.

Do you not know that Jesus took five loaves and two fish and he fed 5,000 men plus women and children? Do you not know that God used a poor little widow to take care of a prophet? Do you not know who our God is? This little lady is learning a lesson here; she's learning the lesson of giving. Elijah is being reminded that God often meets needs in surprising ways. I would have never picked a poor widow to take care of a prophet, but God did. Why? Because he wanted to bless her and wanted to take care of her.

This is my final point today: Always remember, when you're going through a crisis, always remember that God will see you through your crisis. A simple point, but powerful: God will see you through your crisis—not part of the way through, but all the way through. Look now as the story concludes in First Kings chapter 17, beginning in verse 15. Everybody still with me today? Elijah's made the request: "Give me your water, bake me a cake." She said, "I don't have much. I'm going to eat this and die, my son and I."

What does she do? Verse 15: "She did as Elijah said. And she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days." I love this next verse, four powerful words: "There was always enough." Isn't that a good hallelujah moment right there? There was always enough. There was always flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. If God did it for Elijah and this little widow and her family, God will do it for you. He'll not just get you halfway through your crisis; he'll get you all the way through your crisis.

David, the great songwriter and King of Israel, faced all kind of crisis moments in his life. At some point in time in his journey with God, David sat down and he wrote words that are very familiar to probably everyone: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

That doesn't sound like part of the way through; that sounds like all the way through. The same promise is to you today; it's written for our instruction, for our encouragement. Isaiah the prophet spoke in these terms for each one of us, prophesying I believe the words that are applicable to you today: "But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, who formed you, Israel." Let me stop there just for a moment. We're going to read this together in concert in just a bit. When we get to the word "Jacob," I want you to put your name right there. Do you know your name?

Get your driver's license out, remember what your name is right now. Everybody needs to know your name. I want you to speak out your name when we get to the name "Jacob," and I want you to say your name right there. Are you ready for this? Do you know your name? You sure you do? Here we go. Together, here we go: "But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, [Jacob], who formed you, Israel." What does God say to you? "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you."

Anyone in the house been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Anybody in the house been saved by the precious work of Jesus? Did he reach down and pull you up out of your pit and set your feet on a rock and give you a firm place to stand? Have you been redeemed by God? I'm going to tell you something: The Bible says let the redeemed of the Lord say so. You've been redeemed by God. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name.

Do you know why you're here today? Because you received a summons from heaven. At some point in time, the Holy Spirit came to you and summoned you to a relationship with God. You didn't come to God on your own; you came because the Holy Spirit drew you to God. You're not smart enough to come to God by yourself; he drew you to himself. He summoned you by name. He called you unto himself.

"But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, Jacob, who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." That sounds like all the way through. And if it worked for Elijah, it works for you.

Are you in a crisis today? Are you wondering how something's going to work out? Does it feel dangerous to you right now? Remember something: Remember God sees you. God cares about you. God is there to protect you, and God is there to provide for you. Remember that God has many ways to meet your need. When one door closes, God has another door that can open. Remember that when God opens a door, it might surprise you.

The door that opens may be very surprising to you. It may look like a widow with nothing, but behind the widow is a God who has everything. Always remember, in the midst of a crisis, that God will see you all the way through. He will not leave you halfway; he'll bring you through to victory. Would you join me as we pray together today? Father, we thank you for the amazing, wonderful story of Elijah. We thank you for this little widow as well.

Lord, thank you for her trust in you and her obedience to you and how it resulted in tremendous blessings. Lord, it's kind of hard for us to identify with Elijah; we don't feel very much like an Elijah. But Lord, all of us, I think, can identify with the widow. So many times we feel like our resources are so small and we're so insignificant, but yet you find people like that and you use people like that. So Lord, we want to make ourselves available to you today.

We want to be like that widow and not hold on to things that you want us to release to the blessing of God and the blessing of others. So grow our hearts, God. Make us generous. Make us big-hearted people. Lord, people that have hearts like your heart, knowing that you're not looking from heaven to see what we have; you're looking to see who we are. Let our hearts be responsive to you. Seal this word today by your spirit in each one of us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I would like to close today by giving you an opportunity to ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me right now? Right where you are, just simply bow your head with me and I'm going to give you a prayer to pray. You can simply whisper this prayer out and from the sincerity of your heart call upon God. I promise you that he will hear and answer you. So let's pray together. Start by simply whispering the name Jesus. Let there come from your heart just the declaration of his name. Say:

Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, that I have fallen short with you. I'm sorry for all of my sins. Jesus, I believe in you. I believe that you are God's Son. I believe that you are the Savior of the world. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that you rose from the grave—that you are alive today. Now pray these words: Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. Give me a new start in you. I commit my life to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, if you prayed that prayer with me, I want to encourage you with a promise from God's word that says that when we call upon God's name, there is salvation that comes to our lives. He changes us from the inside out and you become a new creation; old things pass away, all things become new. And that's exactly what has happened to you today. Your next step really is to make sure that you get into a good Bible-believing church, and you begin to study God's word.

Get God's word in you and make sure that you get a copy of the Bible if you don't have one and begin to read it. Spend some time every day in prayer. I would encourage you also to check out the resources on our website that will help you to get going in your relationship with Jesus. You can find them at church-redeemer.org. Get those into your hands, get started in your new life with Jesus Christ. Thanks again for joining us today. May God bless you and we look forward to seeing you next time.