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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Dr. Tony Evans » Tony Evans - Seeing God's Provision

Tony Evans - Seeing God's Provision


Tony Evans - Seeing God's Provision

We are looking at the life of Elijah to discover the supernatural, and I don't want you to miss the point. I want you to get this. And today, we're going to be introduced to him and learn about a lesson about God's supernatural provision. The context in which Elijah appears on the scene, he appears in 1 Kings chapter 17. We're told in verse 1, "Now Elijah the Tishbite who was of the settlers of Gilead, Tishbe," or if you were from there you'd be called a Tishbite, was the place Elijah was from.

Now we don't know a lot about Elijah, he just kind of breaks in on the scene, and he comes like out of nowhere. His name means Yahweh is my God. That tells us a little bit about his mother and father who named him, they were obviously people of faith that they would name him that way. Prophets as Elijah was, showed up because there was a spiritual issue among God's people that needed to be addressed. Prophets, were there to bring God's message in the midst typically of spiritual decline. While the scenario that brings Elijah on the scene, is summarized for us in chapter 16, verses 32 and 33. "So he erected an altar," that is King Ahab, "Erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. This Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him".

So the context that brings Elijah on the scene is idolatry. Ahab the king, has begun worshiping Baal and he brings the rest of Israel to worship Baal with him. He not only worships Baal, he worships Baal's girlfriend, Asherah, because Baal and Asherah, kinda like boyfriend and girlfriend, work together to bring fertility to Israel. They look to this idol to bring fertility to Israel. It says that "Idolatry ticked God off". It said "It provoked him, it irritated him, it upset him that they looked to these unauthorized things to meet their needs". So he calls on Elijah and he tells Elijah, "I want you to go and speak to the king and to the nation".

So Elijah comes in verse 1 and he says to Ahab the king, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word". God attacks Israel at the place of their idolatry because they were looking for Baal and Asherah to bring about fertility even in the land. God says, "I'm gonna attack your idol, and I'm going to attack your looking at them to take care of you. Because when I shut heaven down, I don't care how much you pray to Baal and Asherah, they're not gonna be able to grow your crops, give you your food". You see, in an agricultural environment, if there is no rain, there is no growth, if there is no growth, there is no food, if there is no food, you gonna be hungry so you best be looking at the right source.

So to let you know who the real God is and who the God is that you should be worshiping, I'm going to no longer provide because rain and dew made the provisions in an agricultural environment. Now the Word of the Lord comes to Elijah in verse 2 saying, "Go away from here and turn eastward and hide yourself at the brook of Cherith, which is in the east of Jordan, it shall be that you will drink of the brook and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there". There's our word "Provide". So, "Elijah, go over here and I'm gonna take care of you and I'm gonna take care of you in two ways: I'm gonna first of all take care of you naturally because there's gonna be at Cherith, a brook of water that's gonna stream down and you're gonna go down and you're gonna cup that water, you're gonna put that water in your mouth and you're gonna drink fresh water in a dry season from a private source that only you know about 'cause I'm only sending you there, as I break you away from the crowd.

So I'm gonna use the natural provision of a brook, but I'm gonna provide for you another way, supernaturally. Because I'm gonna call on the 'Raven Catering Service', to supply you food, morning and evening, they're gonna give you bread and meat," that's called a sandwich, "They're gonna give you bread and meat, morning and evening". Now that ain't normal. A brook that you can drink from, that's normal. But having birds fly in, with a sandwich, twice a day, having waiters fly in on schedule, every day, in a drop that ain't normal. Oh, but it's worse than that. You see in Deuteronomy chapter 14 verses 11 to 14, God tells his people don't mess with ravens, they're unclean birds. Deuteronomy 14:11 to 14, ravens are unclean, you may not eat them, you don't mess with them 'cause they're unclean.

Well what does that tell you about God's provision? That ought to tell you, that God can use hell to bring heaven to you. See, you never wanna box God in, because while God does not sin and God does not tell you to sin, he often uses sin, and uses sinful people, to provide for his people. All throughout the Bible, God will use a pharaoh to get his people the way he wants them to be. God used Satan, tempting Judas, to get Jesus to the cross so he could die for our sins. All through the Bible, you will find God not sinning, telling you not to sin, yet using evil to fulfill his purposes. So God can use an evil employer, to put you in the place he wants you to be.

He says I want you to go to the brook 'cause I got some birds, I got your back. Because that means the sky's the limit, the world's the limit. Now who could've predicted, how could Elijah think that God was gonna meet his need this weird way? But he was only gonna do it at Cherith. Which means, if you're outta the will of God, you miss the ravens. He had to go to Cherith first, 'cause that's where the catering service was located. Don't miss God's will because you're outta God's will because he has separated you in a place you don't wanna be and rather not be, it's isolated, no. If he's got you in that isolated place, that's 'cause that's where his provision is gonna be located, for your current situation.

Now what this means, in order to have a supernatural raven feeding you, and to have birds listening to God to feed you, that means that, God must be your only source. Your job is not your source, your bank is not your source, your employer is not your source, God is your only source, everything else is a resource, a mechanism that God uses and you must free him up to use whatever resource he wants to use even if it comes from something you wouldn't normally understand it coming from. So he's there at Cherith eating two meals a day, drinking some fresh water. I mean he's doing okay, in a bad situation. Oh, but now we come to verse 7, "It happened after a while, that the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land". Things went dry on him.

See, just 'cause God is providing today, doesn't mean you can't lose your job tomorrow. Sometimes things dry up. Economics dry up, income dries up, the dow goes down, I mean, he said "Things went dry on him" but wait a minute, why did they go dry? 'Cause it wasn't raining. But why wasn't it raining? 'Cause he told Ahab that that it's not gonna rain for three and a half years, so the only reason it's not raining, is 'cause he had a Word from God, but now what's happening in society is affecting him, 'cause the brook dried up 'cause there's no rain, and there's no rain, 'cause there was judgment on the land, and he's the one who pronounced the judgment.

So now, he becomes a recipient of the very judgment everybody else is experiencing. So follow this, when he first gave it, God provided supernaturally, but now the economy is affecting him. The circumstances in the land are affecting him, the downturn is affecting him and things dry up. So don't have anybody tell you, "Serve the Lord and things don't get dry. Serve the Lord and you don't lose your job. Serve the Lord and your bank account doesn't get drained. Serve the Lord and things don't break down and dip into the savings that you didn't plan to use for that". Don't let anybody tell you, that if you're in God's will, he was in God's will that things don't still dry up. Ah, verse 8, "Then the Word of the Lord came to him".

When did the Word Lord come to him? When things dried up. Okay, the Word of Lord came to him and told him where to go for the catering service, the "Raven Catering Service," so he's, you know, eating sandwiches every day, twice a day he's drinking his water, all of a sudden what's happening in society is now affecting him. And now the Word of the Lord comes to him again. Okay, let me explain something, when God allows things to dry up in your life, it is because he's moving you to a different provider. When God allows things to dry up in your life, it is because he has a different plan and because your job is not your source, your boss is not your source, when they let you go, you go back to your source, and let your source tell you where to go next, because he's taking you to a different place because he lets where you are dry up, so he lets it dry up even though it's in a context of everybody dry up because he has another place to provide.

Don't get all shook up when it's dried up, all God is doing is moving you up to another location. Oh, but you gotta be close enough to him to hear the Word, said he heard the Word again, see 'cause he was in God's will in a dried up situation. So God says to him, "Go to Zarephath". "Arise," verse 9, "Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Behold I have commanded a widow there to provide for you". Okay, I have problems with this. First of all, Zarephath is the Baal-belt. You know, this is the Bible belt, that was the Baal belt, that was the center of Baal worship, is Zarephath, in Sidon. Let me explain something, God will often test your faith, by sending you places you don't prefer to go, 'cause it doesn't make sense.

How's a widow, who's down her last meal as you gonna see more, help me? She can't help herself. But God said, "I commanded the widow and she's gonna be your new provider". But he was close enough to God to hear his voice. So he arose 'cause Elijah's a man of faith, so he's not gonna just listen to God to say, "Amen," he got up, he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold the woman was there gathering sticks and he called out to her and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar that I may drink," and she was going to get it he called and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand". But she said, "As the Lord your God lives I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar, and behold, I'm gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat in and die".

Wait a minute, I'm confused. Didn't we just read God had commanded the woman? In fact, Elijah says to her in verse 13, "Do not fear". So she's scared. I don't see the command 'cause she's scared to death, 'cause she's down to the last meal, here's this man asking for stuff. He says, "Make me," verse 13, "A little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me and afterwards you may make one for yourself and for your son". He says, "For thus the Lord God of Israel says, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted nor the jar of oil be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.'" He gives her a promise from God. All this woman has is a promise and a final meal. The question is whether she gonna believe the preacher, but not because he's a preacher, but because he's saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord".

What was he challenging her to do? He was challenging her to put God first. He was challenging her to faith 'cause all she had was a promise from a preacher, but his job was to get her to act in faith for her 'cause she was gonna be the beneficiary of her faith, he was gonna be too, because she was gonna make a bread cake for him. My primary job, the job of our leadership, is to provoke your faith because until you move in faith, you will not see the supernatural open up. This woman had every reason not to believe, 'cause the money was funny. She had every reason not to believe, 'cause she's down to her last meal, but because the Word of God through the prophet of God was delivered to her, she now has the choice, "Do I settle for my last meal, or do I believe the Word of God"?

The answer to the question is, do you want the supernatural or do you wanna live on what you can see and the flour you have in your hand? So what does the lady do? Verse 15, "So she went and did according to the word of Elijah," which was the Word of the Lord. And what happened? It says, "And she and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jar of oil become empty according to the Word of the Lord, which he spoke through Elijah". Or to put it in the words of scripture, Luke 6:38, "Give and it," the thing you give, "Will be given back to you, pressed down overflowing" 'cause it says, "And they will return it back to you".

The secret to your provision, is to be a provider for somebody who needs what you need, so that God can use what they need, that's what you need, to bless them and return it back to you. In other words, you must be a miracle dispenser, if you wanna be a miracle receiver. You must be the miracle that you want to receive for yourself. And if you're unwilling to do that, if it's only about you coming to be blessed, the Bible says in Proverbs 11:25, "He that waters will himself be watered". He says, Ecclesiastes 11 verse 1, that you must cast your bread before you see it come back.

The question is, do you need what God has to offer? That's the question. And this is not just about money, it can be relationships, it can be helping hand, it can be God pricking you to reach out to somebody who's sad because you need encouragement, so you decide, "Well you know, I need encouragement so let me find somebody who needs encouragement, God lead me to somebody who needs encouragement, so when I encourage them, you'll bring somebody to encourage me, and you'll work this thing around and so God lead".

This is not just about tithes and offerings, it is about God being able to work through you, to benefit somebody else, so he can come back to you, and give you the miracle you've been looking for. It's the supernatural circle of provision. It is the supernatural circle of God moving, when people move in concert with him. He invoked her faith. If I can ever get you and me and us to move in faith, not talk in faith, but to move in faith, then heaven opens up and God blows your mind to somebody who makes less than you, can feed you and almost retire at the same time. You never know how God's gonna come at you, you never know where he's gonna come from, but you'll never see it, if he sees idolatry, you'll see a famine in the land.

So the question on the floor, is who's your source? Oh, you should feel free right now, you should feel free 'cause see, once you establish God is your source, nobody now owns you. You're thinking that's Old Testament. "That's in the Old Testament I don't believe that works today, I don't believe that principle applies today," so let me close by quoting you, Luke 4, verse 24, when Jesus is rejected in his own hometown, he says, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his own hometown," talking about himself, "But I say to you the truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the skies were shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land, and yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow".

Girlfriend that made it from the Old Testament all the way to the New Testament, with a new prophet whose name is Jesus. And Jesus says, "Let me reach back to the old prophet," he said, "There were a whole lot of widows in Israel, but God sent to the only one, and the one he sent it to didn't even go to church, she was the widow of Zarephath, she was a gentile, but because she was willing to act in faith, she was the only one who got the miracle, even though there were a lot of widows who could've gotten the miracle, but they were living as idols. But because it's one foreign woman was willing to believe the prophet, a greater than Elijah is here, I am the prophet".

So the question on the floor is, are you gonna be that unique person that God supernaturally provides for? Does he have somebody over there, over there, over there, and over there, and over there, and the rest of y'all just go home. How many widows who are willing to trust him does he have in a crowd? And guess what? Jesus said, "One good one will do".

God has a myriad of ways to provide. He is our ultimate source for all things, and all things that are good and perfect come from God. But if we do not recognize that he is our source, we may miss his provision, but when we recognize that we need to look to him as our provider and everything else is merely a resource and not the source, it changes our trajectory and it helps us to see things we wouldn't have normally seen, because we're in touch with the one who's providing it in the first place. So keep looking at God as your source of provision, because then you'll see, when he's ready to come through for you to meet you at the place you are, and to meet the deep needs that you have.
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