I just enjoy good singing. I enjoy it. Enjoy how the Holy Spirit moves. You know why I believe we feel Him move so much during that singing? Because I believe He's rejoicing in it. And He's just moving all over the place because of it. I think He's just trying to move in people's hearts, letting them know, listen, they're talking about me. And what a joy to hear people sing. Thank you so much for that. We'll be in 1 Kings chapter number 17 tonight. 1 Kings chapter number 17. My heart is still full from this morning and just studying and preparing for that. The Lord filled my cup, and I wanted to keep running over and letting other people experience the joy of the Lord. But when David cried out, Lord, I love you, and then he listed who God was, and he talked about that horn of his salvation. I tell you, we have a great God and we serve a great God. 1 Kings 17, I would invite you to stand with me as we read the Word of God in 1 Kings 17, a very familiar passage of Scripture starting in verse 1. The Bible says in Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith. that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord. For he went and dwelt in the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass that after a while that the brook dried up. because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks. And he called to her and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal and a barrel, and a little oil and a cruise. And behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And think about this time, this is a desperate time. And we'll talk about that here in just a few minutes. But this is a situation where there's a famine. And we see Elijah getting a command from God and going down to that brook Cherith. And I don't know about you, but I think I would have been a little bit questioning if God said, I want you to go down to the brook and I'm gonna have a bird come feed you, especially a dirty bird that eats dead animals off the side of the road that we see. I'd be like, God, are you sure? I heard that correctly. But Elijah had to be obedient to the Lord if he was gonna find the sustenance that he needed. But verse 12 is where we're going to focus on tonight. It said, And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal and a barrel. Now this woman here we can see is just like most everybody else in the land at this time. But she said she has a little meal in a barrel. And that phrase kind of hit me this week in studying some different things. And I want to preach a message to you tonight called When You're at the Bottom of a Barrel. When you're at the bottom of the barrel, let's pray. Lord, we love you. Thank you for the day that you've given to us. Lord, thank you for the opportunity we have to be in your house tonight. Lord, I ask you, please, to meet with us in a special way. Thank you already for the songs, Lord, people praising you, the testimonies we've heard. Lord, the work that you've been doing in people's lives. God, I pray that you continue to do a work in this place. Would you draw us closer to you each and every day? Lord, we love you tonight. Thank you for all that you've done in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Thank you for standing. When you're at the bottom of your barrel, I can imagine this woman in this passage, she's in a delicate situation. And in fact, even the preacher Elijah is in a delicate situation. If we look at verse number seven, it says, and it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up. You ever felt like your brooks dried up and you feel like there's no water to drink, you feel like there's nothing happening in your life? The fact of the matter is though, Elijah was already seeing God do some things and the brook had dried up, but God already had a plan in Elijah's life and was going to help Elijah, but his whole purpose wasn't just to help Elijah. It said, because there had been no rain in the land, But then I look at verse 10, it says, so he arose and went to Zarephath. By the way, he obeyed God. God told him you need to go to Zarephath because God had the plan to help him. but he just had to do it God's way. I think oftentimes we're total opposite of that. God will tell us here, I've got this for you over here. And we think, well, God, that's not, I don't want to go that direction. God, I want to go this way. And we fight against him and we wonder why we don't see the provision of God. And God's saying, it's not that I wouldn't provide. It's just, you didn't obey me. But in this passage, Elijah obeyed. And it's a good thing that he did. Verse 10, So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow woman was there, gathering of sticks. And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that I may drink. Now, I don't think Elijah was naive to what was taking place. He knew he had just told Ahab that God's going to withhold the rain. But we're dealing with a delicate situation here because this lady is, she's out there gathering sticks and she's trying to do some things for her and her son and she's trying to prepare and she's still working. And Elijah understood it wasn't just her, there was other folks dealing with the situation, but it's a very delicate time. There was, food wasn't just at everybody's, the end of everybody's hand there. It was very scarce and they had to make sure that they did what they could do. And this wasn't this lady just trying to be frugal. She's down to the bottom of her barrel. And so she just had a little bit of meal in a barrel and some oil and a cruise. And she said, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna make something for my son and I. But here she is, she's out there and she's gathering sticks. She's still doing the work. during this delicate situation. And you know, sometimes we get into a delicate situation in our life and we feel like we're at the bottom of our barrel. And a lot of times what happens is we just sit down and give up. We just sit down and quit. We just sit down and we start blaming God for our situation and for our circumstance. We start saying, God, if you really love me, why would the brook dry up? God, if you really love me, why would I be down to the bottom of my barrel? God, I feel like I'm just, I'm down, I've hit rock bottom, we say all the time. I'm just, I'm down at the bottom and I don't know which way to turn. And we just throw in the towel and say, I'm giving up on God, I'm giving up on all this stuff. And we're not willing to do the work that's required to do that God's still commanded us to do. But you know what, this lady is in a delicate situation, but she understood she had an obligation. Not just to herself. She was a mother. She had an obligation to her son. And she was doing everything she could do to get the work accomplished. That even though she was at the bottom of her barrel, This delicate situation that she was facing, she understood that if she didn't do what was required of her, it wouldn't just affect her, it would affect her son as well. And you know what, Elijah was in that same situation. Elijah was, he was going through it as well. How many of you would say, hey, I would like to be where Elijah is and having a raven come and feed me? Most of us wouldn't do that. We say, no, we got food lying right down the street. You know, we've got Romanos, and I love Romanos, by the way. Praise the Lord. We're good preaching here. I love that. They're strombolis. Listen, this is a commercial for Romanos, okay? I'm grateful for that. But guess what? What if you were in that situation? And it may not be as far as a physical famine that we're going through. We have plenty around here. You live in one of the greatest places in all the earth. And God's been good to our nation. The poorest people in America are rich in other countries. But here, Elijah's even in this place, and God told him, go down to the brook, for I've commanded a raven to sustain thee there. And I began to think about that this week, and I thought about, you know, my cousin Jason and my uncle Howard, they're falconers. They have hawks and owls and different things. I've got to help them with that on several occasions. But ravens are just a dirty bird. They're like a buzzard. You know, they eat on dead things. And I thought, could you imagine being Elijah, sitting there and saying, God, what's your plan? Well, I want you to go down to the brook Cherith, and while you're there, you can drink from the brook. That sounds pretty good. He said, but then I've got a raven who's going to bring you food. I think, God, excuse me. I didn't use my Q-tips today. I don't know if I understood you correctly. Did you just say a raven? Yeah, I've got a raven that's going to feed you. And I'm just talking about how I would feel if I was Elijah. I think I'd be like, Lord, how about sending in some doves and let me eat them? You know, they're good tasting things. He said, no, the raven's actually going to bring you food. I thought, man, I'm going to have to eat the same thing that raven's eating. That's going to be bad. And then the brook dries up. And I'm sure Elijah could be like, Lord, I did what you told me to do. I've eaten what the ravens brought me. I've drank from the brook, but there's been no rain and it's dried up." And God said, hey, I've already got a plan. I want you to go over to Zarephath because there's a widow woman there that's going to sustain thee. By the way, there wasn't just one widow woman there. There wasn't just one person going through a famine. They all were going through famine. But I want you to see, take your Bibles real quickly to Luke, if you would please, Luke chapter number four. Luke chapter number 4, starting in verse number 25, it says, but I tell you of a truth. He said, I'm getting ready to tell you a story of a truth that really happened. We just read about Elijah was at the Brook Cherith and he was going over to Zarephath and there was a widow woman that was going to sustain thee there. He said, I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias. when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. So wait, there wasn't just this one widow woman, was there? There wasn't just one widow woman who's dealing with a famine in the days of Elijah, when God shut up the rain and the brook dried up and all of that stuff happened. But look what it says in verse 26, but under none of them was Elias sent. There was many of them. But Elijah wasn't sent to all of them at that point. He was sent to one. There was one widow woman that God sent him to. It said, but none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. Listen, we don't know much about her. We know that she was a widow. Guess what? She had already been going through some hard times. She lost her husband. She's trying to take care of a kid all by herself. And now this famine's been going on. Maybe, you know what, I'm thinking maybe it's been three years and six months and things have happened. I don't know how long it would take for a brook to dry up, but from the time there was no rain, he's sitting there being sustained for a while. I don't know how long it took, but eventually that brook dried up. And here I can just imagine maybe this widow woman, her husband had some provision for her and her son. And that her husband had maybe helped her with and she had enough stored away for a while, but this famine was just more than she could handle. And now she's at the bottom of her barrel and she's in a desperate, delicate situation. She's in this delicate position in her life where she is at the bottom of her barrel, one meal left is all she has. And now she's faced with a decision. The man of God comes and he begins to ask her to go get him some water. Listen, there's a famine going on. Water was very precious at that time. I'm sitting here looking at this cup of water thinking, man, that looks good, but we're not in a famine. You know, I could grab this cup and drink this water and drink it all and say, hey, can I get some more? And we could get some more and we could get some more because we have that water. But here, that water was just, it was a delicacy then. They needed it. But she was gonna go get him some water. But he stops her in the way and he says, listen, not only water, I want you to bring me a little bread as well. Bring me some meal. And I'm sure during this delicate situation, Brother Travis, something inside of her heart just, you know what, the water, I can deal with. but the food. That's all that my son and I have. And so in this delicate situation, I want you to see this desperation of the woman. Look at verse 12. She said, And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruz. And behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." And you know what? I don't believe she was in this having a pity party, Brother Doug. I don't believe that's what she was doing. I believe she was just explaining to him the desperation that she was in. This delicate situation that she had, I don't think she was saying, I don't think she was doing that. I think she was saying, Sir, I would love to help you, but I've only got a little bit. And that's just enough for my son and I. And I'm gathering these sticks. Listen, I'm still doing the work because I know if I don't do this and I don't prepare this meal, my son is going to die. And I believe with all our heart that the mother was more concerned about the son than she was herself. But she was trying to do this and in desperation, she's telling the man of God, this is what I need to do and we're just going to eat this and it's our last meal and we're going to die. Then we read down through and we're just setting a stage here. Then I want you to see what happens in verse 13, the direction of the prophet Elijah, what he says to her. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son. Now wait a second, we look at that and I'm sure some of us could think, who does Elijah think he is? Just because he's the preacher he thinks he's more important than that lady and her son Don't they know how desperate that she is and he's saying make this for me first How selfish of the preacher that he would ask that How selfish of the man of God that he would listen Elijah was doing what God told him to do Elijah was putting this woman's faith to the test and We've gone through this recently and made a statement, said faith that isn't tested is faith that can't be trusted. And this woman's in a desperate situation, but there was some direction given to her saying, I want you to go and do what you said, make some for you and your son, but bring me some first and then go and eat with thy son and do what God has commanded. And then verse 14, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the crews of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth." Now, we've talked about this delicate situation and the desperation of the woman in the direction of the preacher. And all of that is going to tie in with what happens later on. But there's often times that we're in delicate situations and we have a lot of desperation about us and the Word of God is being preached and the Holy Spirit of God begins to speak to our hearts and it's decision time at that point in our life. It's decision time and this lady was facing decision time and we read over in Luke chapter 4 about there was many widow women. There was many suffering famine. There was many, but I pose a question to you tonight. Why did God single this one woman out? Why did God pick this one woman to have the man of God come and help her? What's the difference? See, we don't read about the other ones. And listen, I'm sure that they were in a desperate situation or delicate situation. And I'm sure they were in despair just like she was. And I'm sure that they were wondering what was going to take place in their life and that there were some things going on. And listen, I know we're not the only ones that face problems. There's many other people that face problems. But God focused in on this woman. and was about to do a miracle in this woman's life. And we read about her in Luke, where he says that God didn't send Elias to all of those, but unto one widow woman. And I begin to think, why is that? Why did God do this in her life? And let's read what happened. Even though she's in a delicate situation and in desperation, there was some direction given. Look at verse 15, the very first three words of verse 15. And she went. And she went and looked and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house did eat many days. And listen, remember the promise that Elijah told her, if you'll do this first, God will Supply that and the barrel won't waste and all of that. And look what happened in verse 16. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. You know why God singled that lady out? There was something different inside of her that we read about in this passage. Brother Jason, it wasn't because she was in a worse situation than everybody else. It was because even in her delicate spot and full of desperation, when God gave her a command, her heart and her faith in God was to say, hey, I'm going to obey what God tells me to do. I don't know what's going to take place, but he said that he's going to sustain me. He said he's going to take care of me. He said he's going to help me. And so I'm just going to obey. And she did it. And we see God's deliverance in her life because of her obedience that took place. We oftentimes get in a state of despair, in a delicate spot, and listen, I'm not trying to make light of anybody's problems or decisions or the things that happen in their life, but we come to the bottom of our barrel sometimes, and instead of us doing the work still gathering the sticks and still preparing to do what we need to do, the work that God's given us to do, to provide for others, to help other people, to do the things that God wants us to do, to command us as parents, to help meet the needs of our kids and do that. That's what that lady was doing. She was still doing the work. And guess what? She was in a place where she wasn't embarrassed about her situation. She understood everybody else is dealing with the same thing I'm going through. But in the midst of her despair, she'll let humbleness come upon her life. And say, you know what? I'm going to put others before myself. She was one of the people that we read about that place other people higher, esteem others higher than themselves. Here was the man of God coming. You know what she could have said? Listen, preacher, I respect you, but I love my son more than I love you. And I'm going to feed him, and I'm going to feed myself, and we're just going to die. But God said, don't do that. If you'll just obey what I tell you to do, it wasn't easy for her to make that decision. It wasn't easy for her in this time of desperation to just say, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm just gonna obey what the man of God said because he gave me the word of God. By the way, Elijah didn't say, do what I told you to do, lady. He said, the Lord said that if you'll do this, He will sustain you. Guess what? We are in a state in our country, listen, we have physical needs, all of those, but we're in a state of spiritual desperation. We're at the bottom of our barrel. It seems like we're just about dead. And I think, Lord, what are we going to do? He says, keep gathering sticks. Keep preparing to build a fire. Keep feeding others that spiritual food. Why? That I can continue to bless. And listen, I don't believe for one second that God overflowed her barrel with meal. I believe that every day when she came and looked in that barrel, there was just enough for what she needed for the day. And when they made all of that, it was every day by faith coming back to that barrel. He said it wasn't going to go away, and she'd look down, there's more in there, and she'd scrape that out. And she'd get that and prepare the meal, and it said they ate many days, and the barrel of meal faded not away, neither did the oil. And there's often times in our life that we're at the bottom of our barrel, and we just say, well, God let me down. Listen, God never let us down. What happens is we don't do the work that's required to show God that we have the faith to believe in Him in the hard times. See, this woman began to scrape that barrel, I'm sure, trying to get that last bit of food out of there. And she put it in there and began to make it. And I wonder, in the midst of her doubt, she said, No, God said that if I'll just do this, He'll sustain me tomorrow. And then tomorrow would come and she would make that meal again. You know what? I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know He provided for today. And I'm just going to keep doing it. Listen, He gives us what we need when we need it. Sometimes He lets it overflow. Sometimes it just seems like it's still there at the bottom. But we need to keep doing the work. I believe God singled that lady out because even though she had lost her husband, there was many others that had lost their husbands, a lot of widow women in that area. Everybody's going through famine. But she had a willingness inside of her to do the work that was required to prepare by faith for God to do a miracle. Listen, we are in a position in our lives sometimes that we're in very delicate spots and we wonder what's going to take place. And we feel like we're at the bottom of our barrel and we're just at that last little bit of meal. But God said. continue on, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. He said, for as much as you know that your labor's not in vain, He's gonna provide, He's gonna sustain us, He's gonna give us what we need. And you know what? This lady, if you read the rest of the passage, this lady didn't just stop through that trial. Then her son dies. Her son dies. And she comes to the man of God now with a broken heart. I've obeyed God and I've done this stuff and now my son's dying. How could it get any worse than where I'm at now? My son is gone. Look in the rest of the passage, verse 17, And it came to pass that after these things that the son of the woman The mistress of the house fell sick and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my son? And he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into a loft where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray Thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down unto the chamber, into the house, and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord is in thy mouth. You see, the Bible says, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. I wonder why this famine was coming, not just because of Ahab and all of that. There was more to it than that. Through these delicate times and desperate situations, God's plan was still very active and involved in what was going on. And this woman obeyed the voice of God, prepared the meal for the man of God, and now she loses her son. And you think, how could she get any worse? How could she get any lower? But God's plan was to show her how powerful he really was. Oh, he can provide a meal, but now her son's dead. Oh, God can put some meal in a barrel, but now he's dead. Brother David, he's dead. What are we going to do now? And Elijah calls the man of God. And what's wonderful about that phrase, it says, and the Lord heard him. You know why the Lord heard him? Because he was obeying what God had told him to do. And because God heard the prayers of Elijah, the soul of that boy returned and she said, I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord is in thy mouth. You know what happened through all of this? Through this famine, when she was at the bottom of her barrel, God was still on the throne. God was still doing what God does best. And that was showing people how powerful he really is and what God can really do. Listen, I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what you're going through. But at the bottom of your barrel, don't quit gathering the sticks. Keep doing what you're supposed to do. Listen to what God commands you to do. Guess what? God tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We're supposed to do that. He doesn't give us any time that we're supposed to take a vacation from that. God says, go tell them. So we're supposed to do that. Even when we're scraping the bottom of our barrel, we're still supposed to be looking out for others. still trying to feed them, still trying to help them, still trying to do all of that. And God says, listen, I'll bless you. I'll do a work in your life. If you'll just obey me, you'll just do what I tell you to do. And this woman's faith and obedience not only sustained her and her son and the preacher through this time, but when her son was dead, her faith in what the man of God said, guess what? She could have said, no, you're not taking my son. But when he died, it said Elijah took him from her bosom. She had her son like this. You think any mother in this room would give up their child like that? If your son died and I walked up and said, hey, give me your son. But you know what she had to do? She had to let go and give it to God. She just had to let go and give it to God. And when God's in control of it, It may not always work out the way you think it needs to, but it always works out according to His plan. And listen, when you're at the bottom of your barrel, you'll still get to eat. You'll still get the provision of God. It may not look like abundance. We're not supposed to compare ourselves with the people next to us. God just said, be faithful. God just said, obey. God just said, do what I tell you to do. And even at the bottom of your barrel, keep doing it. See, I believe this woman humbled herself. And she's out there gathering sticks, doing a work. Even in her desperation, she was gathering this stick saying, I've got to still prepare it. I've still got to make it. I've still got to do all. I have a little bit left and we're going to eat this. And there's still a work to do. And she was still doing that. I bet you there was others, Brother Doug, that are like most of us that say, no, we're not struggling. There's nothing wrong with us. When everybody knows there's a famine, everybody knows it's a desperate time. But she humbled herself and said, you know what? I'm going to reach out. And even in my desperation, I'm still gonna help others. That's why I believe we read about her again in Luke four, where it said, God didn't send him to all those other widows. He sent him to one that had a heart to reach others. Listen, I wonder if that same story happened today. If that same account would happen today, would God think enough of you to say, hey, That's the one I'm going to send them to because I know even in their despair, even in their desperation, they're still going to reach out and try to help others. You think God didn't know that woman's heart? God knew that woman's heart. He knew. He said, I've already commanded a woman to sustain thee. You know why he knew that she would do it? Because he knew her heart. He knew her heart. He knew what was on the inside. He knew the compassion that she had. And he said, that's who I can use to let my name be glorified. And as we bow our head and close our eyes tonight, listen, very simple