You are invited to hunger for God's word and let it take root in your heart today. Consider joining our body in a seven-day fast next week to deny your senses and sharpen your spiritual hearing. By choosing faith over sight, you position yourself to see God move in your life like popcorn in a hot pan.
Welcome, everybody. This is exciting. Let's turn to 1 Kings-17. *1 Kings-17* is where we're gonna be pulling the main focus of today. You know it's gonna be a fun message if we go to first Kings.
I love the Old Testament. Remember, I just wanna remind you, in the book of James, it says, the engrafted word is able to save your soul. Or the embedded or engraft or implanted word. So I I just wanna remind you, I I love that he says that. He says it over and over, pastor David.
He says, by by how much you measure the word that you're about to receive is about how much you're able to be blessed by it. Right? So if you measure the word of God in a in a in a in a good way, in a strong way, then you will be able to engraft it. The devil's not interested or he doesn't he doesn't mind. He doesn't care if you're in church and and my words are flying over your head and they're bouncing off your forehead and you're, you know, checking Facebook or or maybe thinking about your lunch today.
He cares about the engrafted word. Even an amen, amen, he doesn't mind because the word has to go into you and engraft. You have to become 1 with it. That's what the Bible means, that the word became flesh. That's how we make the word flesh today.
Okay? So we have to hunger for the word. Alright? That's just a little reminder. That was a that's like a that's a freebie.
Let's read the let's read this whole story. Okay? It's gonna be *1 Kings-17:1-16*. Most of this is out of the NIV if you care. So here we go.
Now Elijah the Tishbite, he was a prophet from Tishbah and Gilead, said to Ahab, Ahab was the king of Israel and he was the most wicked king known to Israel till that time. Elijah said, as the Lord the the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kereth Ravine East of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. So he did what the Lord had told him.
He went to the Kereth Ravine East of The Jordan and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook. Sometime later the brook the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.
So he went to Zarephath and when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and he asked, would you bring me a little water in a jar so that I may have a drink? And as she was going to get it, he called, oh, and bring me please a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God 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 am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. I just said to her, don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me, from what you have, and bring it to me. And then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.
She went away and did as Elijah told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word the Lord had spoken by Elijah. Amen. Let's pray.
*Lord, I pray God that this morning your word* would come forth and, pierce the hearts of the people here listening. Pierce my heart. I need this message just as much as anyone in here. Lord, I pray that you would that you would move mightily in this place and that we would we would engraft the word into us. It would actually become us and we would live out the words like like Elijah and like the widow did.
In Jesus name. Amen. So this is a faith story. Right? We talk a lot about faith in this church and and that's because the bible talks a lot about faith, it's because God cares a lot about faith.
This is a faith story. Hebrews goes on to tell you that if you read the book of Hebrews, it's like called the "hall of faith". It's like every Everything is a faith story in the bible. That's what God is interested in. It's like Abraham did what he did by faith.
Moses did what he did by faith, and this is no different. She's operating out of faith. Jesus always talked about faith. You know? I mean, he talked about faith constantly, nonstop.
Your faith has made you well. You know. Go go, your faith has made you well. Or or if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be removed and thrown into the sea, and it will be done for you. If you have faith, you know, you can say to the mulberry tree, be thrown into the sea.
You know? We probably have some things in our lives that wanna be thrown into the sea. It's by faith that we do it. So faith is super important. Faith impressed Jesus dramatically.
I'm just wanna I'm just gonna talk about faith for a minute before we get into the story. You guys remember the Roman centurion when when when Jesus encountered him. Right? So the Roman centurion says something and it impresses Jesus so much because it displayed faith. Okay?
And and and here's what Jesus said. Go ahead to Luke-7 Luke-7 verse 9. It says, when Jesus heard this, he was what? Amazed at him and turned to the crowd following him and he said, I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in all of Israel. Faith amazes Jesus.
I want that. I would I would like that. Am I the only 1? No. Amen.
Amen. Come on. Like faith is everything. Like I like So 2024, I I like I want to be so faith focused. We're we're so intellectual in America.
It's like, I want to be around people of faith. I want I want I want faith to be the conversation. I don't like being around people that have no faith. No offense. I'm just saying, I I can give to them, but can't receive anything from them because there's nothing that they can say that builds me up.
In fact, anything that they say, if I take a hold of it, it will tear me down. Faith needs to build up. Right? So that's what we want to be around. If you're gonna do anything in life that's meaningful, it's gonna be by faith.
If you're gonna make any impact, if anything that you put your hand to to work at through this life is gonna last beyond you, it's gonna be because you did it by faith. *Hebrews-11:6, I don't know if this is on the screen, but you guys know it. And and without faith, it is impossible to please God*. It's impossible to even please God without faith. We need to put our attention towards this.
*Romans-14:23 says this, everything that does not come from faith is sin*. I know you guys know these verses because we talk about this a lot. But I wanna refresh it. And you don't need much faith. Right?
When when the when when the disciples asked of Jesus, oh, increase our faith. You know, he said he said, if your brother sins against you 7 times and he comes back in the same day and asks for forgiveness, you're to forgive him. And they're like, holy moly. Lord, increase our faith. And he said And he responds, if you have faith the "size of a mustard seed".
That's his response. That's what that That's like the context of that. Well, you have faith the size of a mustard So it's like, it's it's very contrasting. You don't need much. You just need a little.
I mean, you either have it or you don't. And if you have it, you don't need much. *Faith* is a substance of things hoped for. Right? So it's a substance.
Something It's something It's like It's a substance. Something. It's it's tangible. You can grab onto it. Faith.
You either have it or you don't. And you don't you don't generate it yourself. Okay? Because **faith comes by hearing** and hearing by the word of God. Right?
Let me get an amen. Amen. So if faith comes by *hearing* and hearing by the word of God, that means you can't just have faith in any old thing. It it So like, don't get it confused. We're not talking I wanna really define faith to make sure we know because even Christians get off on this.
First of all, atheists Let's say atheists for a second. Or people that just have nothing to do with God. They they think *faith* is just this blind thing you just It's like there's no difference to them between God and Santa Claus because it's just like, you're You just believe, like believe. That's just it. That's it.
And they call it blind. And I'm thinking I was thinking yesterday, I was like, well, maybe the faith is blind. But I'll tell you what, it's not deaf. Okay? Because faith comes by hearing.
See, we walk by faith but not by sight. So yeah, Maybe you don't see what's going on. But you But what the atheist doesn't know is you heard something. You heard a call. They didn't hear it.
You heard it. When you're in worship, sometimes you hear from the Lord. When you open up the word, you hear something. People can read the word of God and get nothing. They can use it to try to explain why God doesn't exist.
You have to hear. That's how faith comes. Right? So faith comes by hearing. I like to quote this 1 in the in the King James because it says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
So so just try it. Say faith cometh.
*Faith* cometh.
*Faith* cometh. It comes by hearing and hearing by the word. So it comes. Okay? So let's go back to Christians for a minute.
Christians have at times believed that you've got to generate it. You've to work it up. Faith Like, I gotta I gotta flex my believing muscle. Oh, boy. Here's We're going into a a rocky road.
Let's believe really hard. Believe believe I believe you, Jesus. I believe you. I believe you. It's like faith doesn't have to try like that.
*Faith comes to you. It's given to you. And it's given to you when you hear the Lord*. It's given to you when you hear his word. That could be through the bible.
That could be, like I said, through worship. Any through all of the ways that the Lord is gonna speak circumstantially or through a friend that comes and says, I have a word for you. Or maybe even just something that your kids said and you hear the Lord in it. Remember when Jesus said to Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you're the Christ, the son of God.
Right? And he said and Jesus said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven revealed this to you. Right? And so he was impressed. And then what did he What what came after?
He said, and and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And anything that you bind in heaven will be bound on earth, and anything that you loose in heaven will be loose on earth. Right? So he started just pouring out spiritual blessing onto him because that's what happens. So you hear God.
Right? And faith is built by hearing his word. And then faith is completed by what? Obedience. Come on.
I know you've been listening to pastor David. *Faith is completed by obedience* and what's on the other side of faith of of obedience? That's The right. That's right. It's the same situation.
So let's see what what about what about if you don't have faith? Jesus Jesus said, oh, you have little faith. Right? Let's go back to him for a minute. Oh, how is it that you have no faith?
Jesus was exhausted by people that didn't have faith. Amen. Let's go to *Mark-6:1* through 6. It says, Jesus left there and went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. And when the Sabbath came, so he went to his hometown, he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were amazed.
Where did this man get these things? They asked. What's this wisdom that has been given to him? What are these remarkable miracles here he is performing? Isn't this the carpenter?
Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judges and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown among his relatives and in his home in his own home. Can I get an amen after Christmas and you've been spending all that time?
The relatives. He could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them and he was what? Amazed. Amazed at their lack of faith. It's 2 times that Jesus was amazed in the bible right there.
So here he is in his hometown, he's preaching. He's trying to come and and do what Jesus does which is the miraculous give the word and and watch the miraculous flow after it, and they can't even receive it. And why is it? It was almost like they had it. Oh, look look at what is this wisdom, these remarkable miracles.
And then they said, isn't this, you know, the brother of like, you know, Simon? It's like, I'm in a fantasy football league with Simon. You know? It's like, aren't his sisters here with us? Like, I dated 1 of them.
Like, this is not Who is this? This is Jesus. They brought him down to their level, And it caused it it actually caused him to where it says he he could not do miracles. It actually arrested the miraculous. This is where pastor David says, "be careful how you hear".
Right? That's what that is. Be careful how you hear. Let's go to Matthew-10:41. It says this, whoever welcomes a prophet This is Jesus speaking now.
Whoever whoever welcomes a *prophet* in the name of a prophet or as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. So that's like the opposite situation. Okay? So if you like, let's say, you know you know, let's say Bart's a prophet and I'm gonna and and he's gonna come over to my house. Well, if I welcome him as Bart, well then it's just that's that's what it is.
Oh, this is Bart. Hey, come on in. But if I welcome him as a prophet because he because I'm aware that he has that gifting and anointing, that I'm aware that I and I'm and I'm hungry for the word of God, Well, I'm gonna treat him in a certain way and I'm gonna prep myself in a certain way and because of that, I will be ready to receive something. The prophet's reward. Now, what would that be?
A prophet's reward. Well, the prophets bring in the word of God. Right? A supernatural word of God to you. So the word of God brings faith.
And faith gives me a chance to walk it out and then see the supernatural happen in my life. So miracles, signs, wonders, all of those things always come in on the opposite end of faith, on the other end of faith once it's completed. Right? So God will wrap his word in a package and he will give you that package and whether you honor the package in which it's it being presented to you is whether or not you'll be able to receive what's in it. That makes That reminds me of like dreams.
Okay? Like, I I love dreams. I'm a big dream guy. Like, the reason why, it's not because I love to dream, it's because I've received blessing from the Lord from paying attention to my dreams and then and then and then receiving what their meaning is and getting actual direction over my life from them. This is a hard message for America's words.
Everybody just says, this is a pizza dream and this is weird and and what's it got to do? I pulled a boot out of a river and it's got nothing to do with anything. Then we just forget it and throw it aside. Right? But it's like, the Bible says in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and the sons and daughters will prophesy and other people will dream dreams.
Right? And so God's "last day language" is *prophecy* and dreams. Things that are like weird to our intellectual brain but that's what he likes. He likes to do that. He he doesn't mind offending your intellectual brain.
You know? This morning was it could be very offensive intellectually. Right? He doesn't mind doing that. He intentionally does it.
He packages it so that the humble can receive it. Right? Let's look at another version of this story. It's in *Luke-4:24* through 26. So he says So same thing just happened.
He says, truly I tell you, Jesus says, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I And then he goes on, I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the sky was shut for 3 and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. I I hope you believed me that I was going somewhere. Interesting.
Okay. So so let's just like clarify here. So Elijah and the widow, the story we read at the beginning, that was like 900 BC. Okay. So 900 years later, Jesus is on the scene and he brings up that story.
It's really interesting because he actually he must he he actually adds a layer to the story that's not in the story. He actually does something that you are never allowed to do in interpreting in the bible. Right? Like because you're not allowed to say Okay. So the story says, God did direct Elijah to go to a widow.
Right? But you're not allowed to say, well, I'm sure there were many other widows that he didn't direct to and then create some sort of doctrine out of that. You're not allowed to. But Jesus was there. Right?
Because in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the Word was God. Jesus was always there and he was there with Abraham and he was there with Elijah. Okay? And so he gave us really unique insight to say, God had a list of widows and he disqualified until he got to the widow that Elijah was sent to. That's interesting.
And so I have a question for you. Have you ever played, would you rather? Somebody yeah? No? Yeah?
Would you rather be the widow that gets asked to give your last little piece of bread Or would you rather be the widow that never was bothered by the prophet? I mean, it's easy to say. Like in hindsight, it's like, okay. You know, she got she got She believed him. She obeyed and she got unlimited oil and unlimited flour.
She was blessed and she was taken care of through a through a severe famine and drought. But on the on the surface, that's not necessarily what it is. Right? Because the word The the ask was very challenging. The word of the Lord was very pleasurable, but the but the *obedience* to the word The obedience required in order to act out the word was very challenging to the flesh.
Right? The word of the Lord is The obedience required in order to follow the Lord is not always pleasurable.
That's right.
Right? You know, sometimes he asks you, I want you to start giving. You know? Sometimes he asks you, I want you need it. It's time.
It's time to give up that drug. It's time to give up cussing. It's time to give up, you know, this, that. It's time to cut off those that friendship. It's time to break up with that person and it's hard.
You know? Alright. Let's get into the story. That was the intro. Long intros, short short sermons.
Right? Okay. So like, let's look let's look back here. So so Elijah was sent to this widow. But the weird thing is This this stuck out to me.
Okay? You Let's go back to verse 4. You will drink from the brook and I've directed the ravens to supply you with food there. And so when he goes to the brook, verse 6, the ravens brought him bread and meat. It was like that easy, know.
So then he goes, verse 9 says, go to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and say there, I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. It's the exact same sentence. I've directed ravens, I've directed a widow. And so when I read this, the first time I kind of thought I was like, well he obviously didn't direct her because she was like she was like totally baffled by the by the request. Like what's what's happened here?
Like you know, he said he he says, go go get some water and then will you give me some food? And she's like, it's as if nothing had had It's as if she wasn't aware that that was coming. So I'm trying to I was talking out with pastor David and he's kinda like, yeah. You know, if your interpretation of the scripture is that God forgot, it's probably the wrong interpretation. Oh, that's a good point.
It's like no, he didn't forget. He did command her. He says, I have commanded a widow to go supply you with food. Okay. So I'm wondering how did that happen because it's like we don't know how that we don't know when did he do it.
Did he send an angel? Did he show up? I imagine, you know, I don't We don't know what we don't know what happened, but I imagine it was something like when Jesus told the disciples to feed the 5,000. Right? It's like this baffling this baffling command, you know.
You remember like, there's the all the the 5,000 are there. Jesus says, well, ahead and feed them. They said, what are we supposed to do? Go down to the store and we're in the wilderness. How are we gonna buy for 5,000 people?
We don't have money. What are They start excuses just start That's like the that's the fear. That's the faithless like, logic logic logic logic. Crush crush crush. And Jesus said, well what do you have?
You know? Oh that's such a God question. Well what do you have? What's in your hand? You know?
And they're like, we literally have 5 pieces of bread and 2 fish. And he says, alright, feed them. He gave thanks for what he had and he said, alright, start giving it away. The bible's so funny because it's like and then everyone was fed and there were "12 basketfuls left over". The same with this.
It's like, and the jug never ran out, you know. It's like, they don't sit there and write, no, really. The jug did not run out. They went back to the jug and looked, it kept being full. They poured it out.
They tried dumping it out. You know, they they drilled a hole in the It's just like, no. What are they gonna say? They're not gonna say anything else. The junk never ran out.
You're gonna believe it or not. It's up to you. So so so then so then he goes on. So he says, and this is another interesting part. Says, would you bring a little water in a jar so that I may have a drink?
And verse 11 says, as she was going to get it, he called. Isn't that funny? Cause it's like the bible's very intentional about every little thing. Like that's why you should kinda read it pretty slowly and and and carefully, paying attention to these little things. Cause it's like, okay, I thought it was a drought, but she must have had water.
*God didn't say he commanded* her to give him water. It said he commanded her to supply you with food. So the water she was fine with. It's not like she was like struggling. She she she running, go grab the water.
But the second he says the bread, it all stops. Right? See God has a way of asking for that 1 thing, you know, that you're kinda holding on to. It's like, God you can have all this. I have I have given you 98%.
Right? And God has a way of like pointing out that yeah, but what about that 1 thing? You know? But that's so little, God. It's like I have like barely there's barely anything in there.
Why would you want that? It turns out that as that bag of flour was going down over the year or year and a half or however long it was, her her hope was dwindling with it. Right? Her faith was dwindling. *Fear* was setting in.
And she was and and and so there's that bag of flour. Know, God did it with Abraham. Right? He's like, he gave him a son, the the son of promise, but then he asked him for him back. He said sacrifice him.
It wasn't like when he was like a baby. It was like when he's like 12. He had had him for a while. That was his promise, you know. *God* wants to make sure he has your "100%, your whole heart".
He's not interested in 98. For her, it was a bag of flour. He did it with a rich young ruler too. Obviously, that was a worse ending. To her that bag of flour was the time that she had left on earth, know.
And it wasn't much. There she was ready to die. Her own resources just kept dwindling and dwindling. Definitely hits home for me. This is like pretty hard message.
I I really didn't even wanna preach this message to be honest with you. Like even yesterday. It's like last year was pretty hard for me. I've Financially, it was like *God* called me I've told you guys about it. He gave me a giving goal at the very beginning of last 2023.
This this number that I was gonna give away for the amount of money I was gonna give and sow into the kingdom in different ways. And it was confirmed by my wife and we were excited about it. And then about 3 months in, I'm like, I'm gonna quit my job because my business has like really taken off. Was like January through March. It's a weight loss business so it's like like right now it's like that's the time people wanna lose weight.
Right? So that it was booming. So I quit my job and then But it's a 90 day period, so by the time June rolls around, the business like flattened off and I had kind of over expanded a little bit and then we're basically like losing money or like just breaking even. And so so I quit my job, the business is drying up, and I'm giving all my money away. Per the word of the Lord.
And it's just like squeezing, you know. Squeezing and squeezing and squeezing a little bit tighter, little bit harder. And I think, you know, some of you guys can probably relate to that. If you have a bag of flour in some way of your own life, Maybe you've been praying for a child. Right?
And it's like, the more you prayed, the worse it's gotten and it's been years, not weeks, years. Right? And your hope just kinda like is going down and down. And and maybe all as you all as you can even think about for this for this stupid bag of flowers, I'm just gonna have 1 more meal and then I'm gonna go die. You know?
And maybe they Maybe maybe sickness has just continued to hit you over and over. You're wondering when am I gonna get past this? You know, the faith walk is the hardest thing you'll ever do. It's the hardest thing you'll ever do. Like, don't get it wrong.
Don't don't don't confuse what I'm saying. That's why Jesus said, count the cost. You know? Don't start building a house and then find out you ran out of money because you gave up. It's like count the cost to follow there's a cost to following Jesus.
It's gonna be a 100% dying to yourself. It's gonna be a 100% submitted to his will. And he brings you through droughts. You know? Who who who caused the drought?
It wasn't the devil. I'll give you a hint. It wasn't the devil. *God* called the drought. And I think we forget sometimes that God is willing to test us.
He's willing to put us into a furnace. And it's to test us, and it's to fortify our faith. Do you really believe what it is you said you believed? Yeah. That's what God wants to know.
Do I really have a 100%? That's how he finds out. He finds out in the wilderness. Right? It'll cost you everything.
The man Remember Jesus said, the man The kingdom of heaven is like a man who finds a treasure in a field. And for joy, he goes and sells what? All that he has. Right? You can't do it 98%.
It doesn't work that way. Don't blame God. Don't walk away and say, well, well, I tried church. It didn't work for me. You didn't give it your all.
Right? It's only when you give your all.
And
so here comes here comes God, and he picks the he picks the 1 thing that she just doesn't wanna give up. And he says, why don't you give that to me? And by the way, give it to me first. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I know you're gonna go go ahead and cook for your for your son and yourself, but first, bring me your bread. Right? Because God doesn't just want your all, but he wants your first and he wants your best.
He wants the tip top. You know? This principle is all throughout scripture. What God wants your best. Anything less is not worthy of him.
Let's go to verse 13. So Elijah said to her, just read these words with me. "Don't be afraid". That's that's good. Don't be afraid.
Isn't it funny? God always says that when he shows up. What is his deal with fear? He does hate it, doesn't he? Remember when the children of Israel were going to were going to the promised land the first time?
And Joshua and Caleb and then the group all went out and they and they were going to spy on the land, and they were going to, you know, bring back a report on what on what the land was. I wanna read *Numbers-14:9* through 10. Remember this. You have that 1? Yeah.
There we go. So Joshua and Caleb, they spied the land. Remember? They're spying the the land that has giants in it. But God is saying, that's your promised land and you're gonna go in and defeat those people.
So don't worry about it. He's been telling them that the whole time, and now they're going out to spy the land to take a look. And then they came back and here's they're given the report. Joshua is speaking and he says, only don't rebel against the Lord. He's telling everybody this.
Don't rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people of the land because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. And then what's the next thing he said? But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.
So when when you encounter something that God has said. Okay. God has said something and you're trying to walk it out and then you're encountering giants. Right? And and God is saying, don't fear.
*Fear* wants to stone faith. Okay? Remember that. 2 voices arise. Right?
The voice of fear and the voice of faith. Joshua is speaking faith and they're ready to kill him. Right? Stop. They will never live together.
Fear and faith inside of you will never live together. You have to destroy fear. Okay? It's Otherwise, it will destroy your faith. You don't play with it.
You don't pet it. You don't put it in its corner and say, well, you know, you'd be scared. You'd be nervous too. This and that. You don't What's that called?
Like, excuse. Like, make an excuse for it. Right? You kill it. Every time God shows up, don't be afraid.
Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Elijah says, don't be afraid. He says that before he gives the command. First, don't be afraid, then receive the word.
You would think like, okay, so if she already had a never ending jar of oil, she wouldn't be afraid. But she didn't yet. And she had to do something in order to get it. She had to give of herself. So there was an ask there that Elijah was gonna going to ask, but he wasn't ready to ask it yet because he because she had fear, and fear would bop that thing.
So you gotta kill fear first before I even tell you what it what it is that I'm about to ask you for. And you have nothing to fear because you are going to have a never ending supply of flour and oil. But but "kill fear first". The voice of fear has to die within us. Okay.
Time for p g 13. Lord of the Rings is my favorite movie. It's not like It's not it's not It's it's There's intense scenes. Okay? I'm gonna give you a little clip.
It's my favorite clip of all 3 of the Lord of the Rings series. Okay? And it's in the extended edition of the Return of the King. Okay? So many of you have probably not seen it.
Alright? And and so let's let's pull up that clip and let's watch it. Oh, that's good. That's good. There's so there's so much like natural scripture in there.
It's like, okay. They call that the mouth of Sauron. Sauron's like the evil, like, imagine the devil. He's the mouth. That's what the devil is, is just a mouth to you.
And all he wants to do, Jesus said, remember, he speaks the language of lies. So all he's gonna do is lie and lie and lie to you. That was a lie, by the way. Frodo was actually still alive. He was trying he was trying to get after that faith that they that they can conquer, that they are more than conquerors, that they're gonna win.
Right? And I love it because
Oh, man. Why am I getting
No. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I'm just getting emotional.
I'm trying not to cry. Of course, I'm gonna cry after the Lord of the Rings movie. Because it's a deep meaning, man. It means something. He didn't even say 1 word, you know.
He just walked up and cut its head off. So that's what we have That's how we have to treat fear. Amen. And and and how do you do that? You do it with the word.
You do it with the word just like Jesus did. Jesus didn't get in a back and forth with the devil. He just said, this is what the word says. This is what the word says. The word of God has so much life and so much power.
He can't It doesn't it doesn't doesn't treat with him. It doesn't There's no there's no back and forth. It's like the word cuts it off. First Samuel I just wanna read this. This is like just 1 of the best scriptures.
*1 Samuel-17:45*. Yeah. So David is out there on the battle lines. Goliath is before him. Goliath is the mouth.
He's he's obnoxious. He's ginormous, and he's striking fear into all of the enemy's camp. And David finally comes and he says this. David said this to the to the Philistine. You come against me with "sword and spear" and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and "cut off your head". This very day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army, the whole army, to the birds and the wild animals. And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, but the battle is the Lord's and he will give all of you into our hands. Let's go.
Oh my gosh. It's so good. So you have to quote the word. You have to have the word in you. That's why you have to have the engrafted word because it's gotta be in you, and it's gotta come out, and it's gotta go towards the face of fear.
When you have fear that's it's trying to strike against the word, you have to you have to deal with it. You can't just let it sit. You have to deal with it. You have to confront it. You know?
And you confront it once, and then you're good, and then it comes back. You've gotta confront it again. You know? It's a battle. You've got to fight it and you've got to use the weapon.
Remember, the sword is the word. That's the sword. That's the thing that cuts his head off. Verse 15, let's wrap it up. And she went away and did as Elijah told her.
So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord. That's it. Isn't that amazing? Amen.
The **supernatural is on** the other side of obedience. We just got we just gotta hold on long enough. And that's faith. That's why you want to build up faith. That's why you want to be around people of faith.
And that's why you want to hunger for the word of God. You know, whether it is whether it's the bible or whether it's through *prophecy or whether it's through however the Lord* is going to speak. He'll speak to you every day. But you have to hunger for it. You have to desire it.
You have to want it. You have to put it in its proper place. The word of the Lord is more valuable than gold. It's so much It's the most valuable thing. Imagine something that can take you from going to death and put it To put you towards direction of life.
That's the word of the Lord, and he continue and it continually does it. It keeps you it keeps you focused like an airplane, not getting off to the left or to the right. The word of God. He it's your His rod and His staff, they comfort you and they keep you on the path. It's going right where you're supposed to go.
You have to hunger for the word of God. This is the walk. This is the faith walk. Yeah. Right?
Amen. Amen. Well, listen. I wanna release a couple *words* over the church for 2024. I was in prayer and feeling like the Lord wanted to speak a couple things of things to come.
So here's a here's a an opportunity for you to practice honoring this crazy vessel that the *Lord* the Lord is gonna bring a word to you for. Alright? Why don't you Why don't everybody stand? We're kinda wrapping up here. But just know this too, honoring a prophet or honoring someone that's bringing you a word, that doesn't mean that you just like buy everything that they say hook, line and sinker.
Right? Okay? So I want a very healthy prophetic culture in this church. And Paul says, test the prophets. Test the prophecies.
Keep what is good and throw out what is bad. Okay? So like if I release a word and you say, and the Holy Spirit lights up your spirit, that's that's that's you testing it and you going, oh God. That that's that's right. But you still keep it always in a in a place of testing.
The word of God in the in the bible is is always solid forever. But if I'm gonna get up here and say, hey, I'm gonna prophesy over you, then you you're in a place of See, honoring a prophet doesn't mean that you buy everything they say. What it means is that you give weight to their words. Right? So you you pay attention.
Like, oh, what is this about to be God? Let me let me like like if I'm about to get a word from the Lord, like boom. I'm I'm in. You know? So I wanna listen in here.
So yeah. Test the prophecies And yeah. Oh, you got something?
Yeah. I think I do. Before he says this, it's time for you to know something. Diane Harrison and Todd Harrison came. And they've been coming for 4 years and prophesying over.
Diane is an anointed prophetess, which is biblical, over a network of 3,000 churches. She equips and trains churches in the prophetic for that network of 3,000 churches. That's what she does. And she's been training and equipping our church, very thankful to have them, and and it's a beautiful thing. And then when she was in front of our leadership team, our staff, our elders, and everyone, she asked me if this was okay, if it was time.
And I said yes. And because just honoring the house. And so then she prophesied over Gabriel that that that's the call of God on his life, that he's a prophet. Now that's been tested over the last couple of years. He's been growing in the *prophetic ministry* and has raised up a prophetic ministry at our church that is continuing to multiply.
So before he talks like that and prophesies over our body, you need to know that he's not just jumping out of order. That actually this has been tested and blessed by God and confirmed by someone that we've entrust that has trained our church and runs the prophetic ministry for a network of 3,000 churches. So this is something God has been raising him up in. It starts with prophetic gifting. Be faithful with that.
If you're called to the office of the prophet, then you start to run-in prophetic ministry. And then after that, if you're faithful with that, if God's anointed you that way, then you're anointed by that in front of the people. And so it's important that you understand that he's not just speaking from trying to get a position over you, which a lot of prophetic people do, which is wrong. He's speaking by authority that God's given him under the authority of the local body. Makes sense?
Yeah. Amen. Thanks, man.
Okay. So 20 24, I this is what I heard from the Lord. It's gonna be a year of **moving from the natural** to the supernatural. Okay? Much like this whole this entire message.
Sometimes God provides with a bag of flour, which is a very natural thing that you kinda know how much you have and it goes down. And then other times he provides by by sending ravens to you to bring you food. Okay? So if you'll have it, God will provide for you this year in a in a much more supernatural way. He wants to take you from from operating in things that are natural and move you into the things of the supernatural.
We're gonna see more of that in our body as well. I I saw God taking numerous people and molding molding or shaping them kind of in the same way as in our body. So imagine like, let's say 10 sheets of something and and him molding it. And so 1 thing that I anticipate for our church this year is that there's gonna be pockets of people that are all learning the same thing together. Don't be surprised if you get a revelation on something from the word or in your life, and then someone else is also getting that exact same revelation at the same time.
It's going to increase unity in our body and acceleration in in what what we're able to do. I saw God healing orphan orphans and orphan spirits. Not like the children, but like people who have sort of been rejected by their parents or had any type of thing like that from their parents and from their past. Maybe they were given up for adoption or maybe they just had struggle with their parents. God is gonna display himself as your *heavenly father* in a way that maybe you haven't necessarily seen.
So God wants to be moved from In certain people's lives, God wants to be Actually be moved from being called Lord to being called Father. Like Jesus kinda changed the name of God when he came and he started talking about in fatherly language. He's gonna display himself as like that this year. I I believe 2024 is gonna be a year of spiritual restoration. So those of you who have broken relationships with family members, God wants to restore those and is gonna restore those even supernaturally.
Those of you who have been praying for prodigal sons and daughters to come home, 2024 is your year. Expect God to do signs and wonders in relationships this year. And 2024 is gonna be a fun year. Some of you actually maybe struggle to have fun. You just can't seem to like get out of yourself and enjoy yourself.
But God wants to bring you back bring fun back into his bride. Okay? So he wants to bring back joy and dancing and a carefree spirit, and he wants to rid his bride of self consciousness. So expect lightness and burdens to be released this year and expect to be moving into more fun. A It's good word.
And and then I saw people people's situations "changing like popcorn". So like, you know, I talked about being in the furnace like God will put you into the furnace. I I saw I saw like you just look at yourself and you just see a kernel, and it's like very underwhelming. And you've been in the furnace for a while, and you haven't seen change, or you don't know like, what why you're even in the furnace, and then all of a sudden you pop. And and you're suddenly this beautiful, unbelievable thing that came out of like this tiny thing, like what what on earth with many facets and beauty.
So like I see I see popping. Okay? Like little kernels throughout this year, so just expect expect that. And that's it. Amen.
So
so the Bible says don't treat prophecies with contempt. We test them by the word, but then we also, the Bible says, war by them. Right? When you know it's from God, you war by them, which is important. The other thing is, I think it's important to say, is in the Greek, the Bible talks about when when the Bible uses the will of God, the word for will, there's 2 different words.
1 is the will of God that has to happen. Jesus returns. It's the father's will. There's nothing that's going to stop it whatsoever. The other is the word that's used for when the will of God also partners with our will in order to happen.
That make sense? So so it's not God's will that any would perish. But for that to happen, it partners with our will to say, yes, Lord. And those that don't say, yes, Lord, they perish. Does that make sense?
So a lot of times prophetic words carry both aspects. Some of them have to happen because it's the will of God and God spoke it, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Others aspects of it, it has to partner with your will to be obedient and to prepare and walk in it. Because God God wants to do it, and it takes communion with him in it for it to happen. Otherwise, you miss out and the next guy that is willing to say, yes, Lord, walks in it.
Does it make sense? So it's important you you know that. Thank you, my brother, for for saying those things and doing those things. We receive it in the name of Jesus. 2 more aspects of this service that are no less important, and then we'll be done.
The first thing is last week, we talked about the "testimony". If you didn't listen to it, you probably need to go back and listen to it. These are all vital in preparing us for 2024. Remembering what God did gives you faith to move forward. The second thing, you can have a seat for just just another minute.
The second thing, God brought this word. Why? To build faith in us for what God's gonna do. The third thing, **Fasting builds faith**. Everybody say that.
Fasting builds faith. 1 more time. Fasting builds faith. Why? Because fasting, you're **denying your 5 senses** in order to focus on what God says.
We "walk by faith" and not by sight. We walk by what he says and not by by what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. So fasting is the intentional denial of your 5 senses in order to hear him more clearly. Faith comes by hearing, which builds your faith. Now, you gotta believe and obey.
Make sense? Fasting builds faith. Okay. So I'm not gonna ask you or call you to a fast today because you're not prepared. But I am next week.
Corporately as a body, we're gonna fast for 7 days. Okay? And I want you to fast some kind of food this time. Alright? I know we've done other types of fasts.
That's great. I want you to fast some kind of intake of food. You don't have to do a complete "water fast", although you can. Do something that's that that you have the faith for, and that is wise. I would encourage you that that is wise.
That's that's based on where you're at medically and all that kind of stuff. But I would begin to prepare this week to fast for 7 days with me and with our body. Because next week, we're gonna start the fast after church on Sunday until after church on the next Sunday. Make sense? Alright?
And and so prepare yourself. Whether maybe you're fasting meat, or maybe you're fasting these sweets, or maybe you're fasting food, or maybe you're doing a "Daniel type fast", or you're just doing a juice fast, or you're doing just a water fast. I don't know. But prepare yourself. It should be something that you normally go to, and that takes the sacrifice of of the flesh.
It takes a a will to will yourself to obey the Lord in it. Okay? Don't don't do something that you never do and call it a fast. Amen? And and we're showing and demonstrating to ourself that we "love God more" than we love those things.
That we live by what he says more than we live by those things. Amen? It's gonna grow your faith and grow your ability to hear the Lord. So that's starting next week. Begin to prepare yourself.
Ask the Lord what it is. Hear, believe, and obey, and then begin to prepare yourself so you're ready to do it next week. Amen?