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Thank you, Brother Hutt. 1 Kings
chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17. If you have your Bible with you
and want to follow along as we read the Scripture tonight. 1
Kings chapter 17. We'll begin our reading with
verse number 8. 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse number 8. I appreciate the service already
tonight and the other services this morning and last night that
we got to be a part of, the good report of the services on Monday
morning and on the Lord's Day. I do covet your prayers for the
next few moments. The Lord might speak to us and
through us for just a little while. 1 Kings 17, we'll begin
our reading with verse number 8. If you found your place, if
you are physically able, if you're willing to do so, I do invite
you to stand with us. And of course, by standing we'll
honor and reverence the reading of the precious Word of the Lord.
Notice what the Bible says in 1 Kings 17 and verse 8, 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. called her and said, fetch me,
I pray thee, a little water in 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 in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruz. 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 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 for thy son. For thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither
shall the crews of oil fail, until the day the Lord sendeth
rain upon the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house
did eat many days. And to bow the meal wasted not,
neither did the crucible fail according to the word of the
Lord which he spake by Elijah. Father, thank You again for the
privilege to pray. Thank You for the prayers already
prayed, the songs sung tonight, testimonies rendered, the preaching,
Lord, the message tonight. Thank You for allowing us to
be here. Thank You for that You've already done. Now, would You
have mercy, our Lord and the prophets of the service, and
do among us what only You can do. Would You speak to and through
us tonight. Would You bind the forces of
hell and Satan and defeat. Would you give victor tonight?
Lord, would You reveal Yourself to everyone that's come through
those doors tonight and reveal to each one of us our need of
You tonight? May we see ourselves in the light
of eternity, in the light of judgment, and in light of the
Word of God tonight. Lord, would You draw sinners
to You? Would You stir up the saints? Lord, Your Lord, above
everything that would be accomplished tonight, may Your name be glorified
and magnified among us. Lord, what You're privileged
and pleased to do in, through and for us, we'll thank and praise
You. I ask everything I ask in Jesus'
lovely name. Amen and Amen. I realize tonight
from this text you've heard, no doubt, many and much preaching,
and there are different areas and ways you can look at this
text tonight, and things you can preach from. I want to call
your attention tonight to verse number 10. When the Bible says
Elijah arrives at the gate of the city of Zarephath, And the
Bible said the widow woman, the widow woman that God had spoke
to Him about when He was down yonder at the brook Cherub, that
widow woman, the Bible said, was there at the gate of the
city. And she was gathering of sticks. I want to preach on that phrase
tonight. If God would help me, and you'll
pray for me for just a moment tonight, on gathering of sticks. Gathering of sticks. This woman was, my friend, gathering
of sticks to make a meal. Three times I want to look at
in the Word of God where individuals were gathering of sticks tonight. And by looking at these individuals,
maybe tonight we can realize where we're at Maybe gathering
of sticks tonight. If you'll allow me and permit
me tonight, we'll leave this text for just a moment and look
at Numbers chapter number 15. In Numbers chapter number 15
and verse 33, there's our first individual that is gathering
of sticks. The Bible said in verse 32, while
the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a
man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. So I want to
say first of all tonight, there was a man that gathered sticks,
a gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day. Of course, we understand
as we read the rest of this text, that because this man was gathering
of sticks on the Sabbath day that he had to die. That judgment
fell on this man, on this individual, and he was stoned about the children
of Israel, for here is the transgression. You see, the Ten Commandments
had been given unto Moses, and that one commandment was to remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Now it seems to us, when we think
about a man gathering up sticks, my opinion that it was such a
little thing, such a light thing, my opinion, such a simple trespass
and transgression. But yet God's law was plain and
explicit, and this man disobeyed. As a matter of fact, when we
read verses 30 and 31 of Numbers chapter 15, we find that God
is talking to Moses about people and individuals that sin presumptuously. Oh, hear me. And then I think
in this example of this man, we have an individual that sins
presumptuously. This was not an ignorant sin,
but this was a presumptuous sin. This was a deliberate sin. The word presumptuously, my friend,
means with a high hand. A means in the defiance. Oh, hear me. Verse 31, said,
anyone that despises the commandment or the word of the Lord, it seems
that this man, my friend, has specifically and purposely sinned
against God. What he did was he set God's
law aside. He set God's commandment aside
and exalted his own will above the Word and the commandment
of God. Amen. Did you know that's the
trouble with every sinner? Amen. All we like sheep have
gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own
way. Somehow, inside of all of us,
we feel like that irregardless of what God has said and what
God has commanded, that somehow we can set that aside and establish
our own way. It started with Cain when he
sacrificed unto the Lord the offering of the works of his
own hand. The setting aside of the acceptable
sacrifice, of the blood sacrifice, of the sacrifice that God would
be pleased with. That Bible said there is a way. of extreme pride and demand.
But the end thereof are the ways of death. Amen. Oh, hear me. And you not only need to be saved
from Satan, as Brother Ken talked about tonight, and from sin,
but you need to be saved from self. Are you hearing me? Oh, hear me tonight. If you go
to hell, if you keep following the path that you're on tonight,
if you wind up in the charred walls of hell, at the day of
judgment, there'll be nobody that you'll be able to point
your finger at. There'll be nobody else. You'll be able to blame. There'll
be no one else and nothing else that you'll have to excuse yourself. But it'll simply be you. Amen. Your voluntary rejection
of the Word and the command of God, your insistence on life
and on impenitence in your life will lead you to that place of
eternal destruction. an eternal damnation. Are you hearing me tonight? Oh
my, it's not my way or your way tonight. It's not your opinion
or my opinion. It's not how we think or we feel. It's doing it God's way tonight. And here this man set aside the
command and the law of God, and exalted himself. Can I say, as every sin did,
the first thing it did was steal from God what belonged to him. It robbed God. of His glory. That's what Joshua told Achan.
He said, you've got all this sin, but you robbed God of His
glory. You took the glory from the Lord. The Lord said, the Sabbath is
my day. I want your attention. I want
your attention. Are y'all hearing me? I want
you to look to me on that day and remember me on that day and
honor me on that day as your faithful creator. But this man
set that all aside and established his own law and his own way. Anybody hearing me? Amen? I want what may command. I do
this knowing that there was a penalty to pay. Now they brought him
to Moses, Moses. I put him up and went to the
Lord. They knew the Lord had said he should die in judgment. I would fall on him. They just
didn't know how to administer that judgment. Amen? So they
asked the Lord, and He told them to stone him with stones. But what would make him? Gather
up sticks. Oh my, oh my, no doubt to prepare
a fire. Hey man, why would he do it on
the Sabbath day? Well, I think part of it is in
the text where it said, and when the children of Israel were in
the wilderness, it was the place where they was at that made him
feel like that somehow God's law did not have to be obeyed.
They were in the wilderness. They were not in Canaan. They
were not in the promised land. They were wandering in the wilderness. And it was a dry time. And it
was a time of death and funerals. And he thought All this is going
on. I set for Him the place we're
at. Why surely, hey God, whatever
I want to do, I will be all right to do. Are you hearing me? What a wicked world we live in
tonight. I want a wilderness that we're
journeying through. I want a spiritual wilderness
that we find ourselves tonight in Christendom and in society. And in America tonight, are y'all
hearing me? Can I preach just a moment tonight?
God help us. Are you listening tonight? Oh,
hear me. Who'd ever thought that in America,
are we gonna reach the place we are tonight? Are you hearing
me? Thank God. And we went beyond
a sodomite or same-sex marriage. We went beyond. Adultery and
fornication tonight Who'd ever thought of my fear That boys
don't know their boys And girls don't know their girls Are y'all
hearing me? And you decide somewhere in life
Oh, hear me What gender you are And you discover According to
society That you're in the wrong A body here, are you hearing
me tonight? It's nothing more than demonism
and devils tonight. Are you hearing me? God help
us. And somebody said God made me. This way God never did. The Bible
said He made man upright, and it was man that sought many evil
inventions. Amen. But why would a society not know
whether they're male or female? I think they're both at the same
time. When the average church in America
don't even know what Bible to preach about. Are you all hearing
me? Oh, you're listening to me. I'm
telling you, things have been turned upside down. But I remind you tonight that
we're in the wilderness. Thank God. God's still got a
world. Are y'all hearing me? God's moral
law is still in effect tonight, and you better take care and
warn in the night that you don't set aside the law of God, my
friend, because of the place you're in tonight. Amen? It doesn't justify, and
it will not excuse it. Are you hearing me tonight? And
you are accountable, and you are responsible. Amen? Hallelujah. Secondly tonight,
not only the place where there's at, but the people here's around. Thank God. Here's amongst a rebellious
crowd. Amen. They've been to Canaan. Thank God. I listened to the
evil report of the ten spies and said we should not go into
Canaan. Oh, we can't go into Canaan.
That's upon us another captain ought to take us back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron has led us to
this place, oh my, where we're going to die at the hands of
the giants in the land of Canaan. Anybody hearing me tonight? And
so they turned around. and walked away from the good
land and the promised land, and the land flowing with milk and
honey. They done like Jeremiah said.
They hewed a mouth-sister and spoke consistent, which could
hold no water, and forsook the living God. And Jeremiah said,
you ought to stand in the way and see. And inquire for the
old past. Ain't God wearing it's a good
way. And won't bury him. Ain't God. I know the young crowd gets tired. Of us older preachers talking
about. Old fashioned and old timey. Ain't God. But there is an open,
and there is a good way, and there is a place, and there is
a road, that a child of God can live and walk on in the modern
church. I want something else, and they
want entertainment. I call it inflexibility and carnality
to the core. I call it. And most folks don't
want holiness or sanctification and separation. But there's an
old path that we ought to search for. Amen. Hallelujah. Here was his mentality. Everybody
else is doing it. Everybody else is rebelling against
God. Amen. So I'll rebel also. Amen. Are you hearing me? Lord, God help us. Hey man, I tell you what's wrong
with America tonight. Hey man, the baby boomers, the
yippie and the hippie crowd. Hey God, they took over our colleges
and universities. Hey God, and our politicians
and leaders tonight. Hey man, and they never got over. Hey God, their marijuana. Hey God, and drug culture. Oh, they never got over. A so-called
free love. Are y'all hearing me tonight?
Thank God they never got overshaken, their fists in the face of God. Hallelujah. As a matter of fact,
the New York Times stated in the 60s on their front page,
God is dead. And a whole generation thinks
that the wickeder you live and the more tattoos and piercings
that you have, and the more vile you can be, that you're fine,
and that'll give you satisfaction. But brother Cain had it right. It's the ship to destruction
tonight. Are you hearing me? And by the
way, God didn't die in the 60s, and He didn't die in the 50s,
and He didn't die in the 70s, and He ain't dead tonight. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hey, are y'all listening
to me? I ain't gone. Hallelujah. By the way, a government will
never settle the racial problem. Are y'all hearing me? That's a matter of fact. Have
they tried to change it? In the sixties of a decade, let
it alone. And our present leader, may God
have took us down backward and led us backward instead of forward.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We all have liberty,
but we don't have rights tonight. God has a right. All of us just
been given liberty. Are you hearing me tonight? When
you march down that road of rights, you never get enough. But sodomites
not satisfied of a same-sex marriage and getting that right, then
they want you to approve of it. They want you to sanction it.
They want you as a Baptist preacher to marry them. Are y'all hearing
me? Are they never satisfied? Because man's right. We are never
satisfied. The devil had to eat. When he told him, you'll eat
of this fruit, you'll be as gods, knowing good and evil. But Satan's
always right. But he's still alive tonight! And he paints a perfect picture!
But he never shows! On the other side of it tonight! Are y'all hearing me? Whoo! Amen? Hallelujah! But can I say tonight with the
old black preacher, hallelujah, God is not dead. Amen? If he's dead, in what obituary
column did you find his name? And if he is dead, what corner
was called? Thank God, oh, that found him. He died and what was the cause? Amen. And if he's dead tonight,
why had I not been notified? I'm a member of the family. Thank God. I don't know. And God says, He's a man! And
a man. Hallelujah. Bless His name tonight. Hallelujah. Oh my. Oh, God help tonight. Amen. Oh, are you living in presumptuous
sin tonight? Are you defying, living in defiance
tonight of God's holy law? Have you pushed aside the gospel
of grace tonight? Amen. And said, I'll do it some
other way. Have you pushed aside tonight
the blood route way? Thank God. The way of the cross leads home
tonight. Thank God. And fully own your
church membership And fully own your good works tonight Own your
dead works tonight If you ever escape the damnation of hell
And ever see the gates of glory I thought it would be because
of God's grace at work in your life And the blood by faith is
appropriated to your heart I'm God and you're changed internally. I'm God eternally and eternally. Hallelujah. Amen. Oh my. Are you gathering sticks
on the Sabbath? Oh, I'll tell you what you're
doing tonight. You're trashing up. Rats against
the day of wrath. Amen. You're laying up a ransom
against the day of judgment, not realizing that the goodness
of God is leading you to repentance tonight. But you've despised
His forbearance and His own suffering. and you love the nation of Israel,
you would have had to establish your own righteousness, and have
not submitted yourself to the righteousness of God, which is
my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. My Lord, it isn't me, is it?
You never instead hold the Sabbath, and it's going to bring judgment
and eternal death to your soul. Amen? Help us, Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. So in this gathering
of sticks, amen, there was this gathering, amen, of sticks on
the Sabbath. Amen. All because of the place
He was at and the people He was around, He felt justified. Everybody else is doing it. Well, but it ain't what everybody
else says and does, it's what God says. Hallelujah. Amen. Would you allow me to look
at my text just a moment tonight for the second gathering of stakes. Then verse number 10, the Bible
said, the widow woman was there, gathering of sticks. Amen. How unusually God provided
for the man of God. First of all, He hid him at the
brook cherith. Amen. Hallelujah. Can I say to
you, the brook cherith, thank God was an open place. It was
in plain view and in plain sight. And yet God said, go to the brook,
Taylor. Go to the open place. I love
you. And I'll hide you in plain view. I love you. I'm telling you,
if you try to hide yourself tonight, thank God it doesn't matter how
deep a hole you dig, In my opinion, I think the brush is, or the
trees, God will find you. But if God ever tries to hide
you, or not tries, but if God ever hides you, the enemy can't
find you in plain sight. Are you listening to me? Woo! As a matter of fact, I'm sheltered
under his wing tonight. And the enemy can't find me.
And the enemy can't see me. Well, oh my, not only did he
hide him in an open place, thank God, but oh tonight, thank God
he fed him with an unclean bird. Amen. Thank God. Raven don't even feed its own. Thank God, plus it's unclean.
But God used an unclean vessel. I defeated the man of God, and
for some reason, twice a day, them ravens went down yonder. I came out and got it off of
Ahab's table. I got it and brought it down
under the brook chair. And they put all host mouths.
And just in the nick of time, God said, let her drop. And they
opened their mouth and there it was. Bread and flesh in the
morning and bread and flesh in the evening. Hallelujah. God knows how to feed the man
of God and the people of God. Oh, yeah. Oh, well, he's got
them head. Even after he used to use, has
to use, are they unclean to do it. Oh, God. Amen. What was it the old widow woman
said? Thank God when the neighbor boys kept hearing her cry for
bread, for a loaf of bread. Amen. And the neighbor boys,
years ago, heard her praying through that open window. And
they said, we'll put our pennies together and give that old woman
her bread. And she'll thank God, didn't
she? And we'll make a fool out of her. And so they put their
pennies together and bought her loaf of bread. And when she was
praying, boy, they threw it in the open window. When she got
through praying and realized, I bet you had the bread. She said, thank you, Lord. Thank
you, Lord, for the bread. They sniggered on the outside
and said, that wasn't God. That was us. And then she said,
Lord, I thank you for the bread. Even if you had to send them
devilish boys to bring it to me. Thank you for feeding me. God knows how. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Bless His name. Hallelujah. And now, when the
brook dries up and the ravens quit coming by, God says go to
Zarephath, not to a city of Israel, but a city of the Gentiles. And
there I've commanded to win a woman to sustain. Hallelujah. And there he goes. Thank God. And I don't know what
he thinks on the way down there. Hallelujah. A rich widow. A widow that her husband has
left her. A multi-million dollar policy that can feed the man
of God. But when he winds up at the gate
of the city, there's a widow woman gathering up sticks. And
she ain't got enough to feed her own, much less a man of God. But God said, that's the one
I've commanded her to sustain. Are you all hearing me? Isn't that amazing? She couldn't feed herself. and her own son, but yet God
said, keep the man of God. Are you hearing me? God uses
unsavory means. God ought to perform His work. Amen. When he gets to the gate,
he says to the widow woman, fetch me some water. He realizes that's
her, and as she heads to get some water, he says, bring me
a morsel, a cake, a little cake. And she turns around and says,
sir, the famine's on, and I'm out here today gathering sticks.
Hallelujah. She said, as a matter of fact,
I'm gathering two sticks. Amen. Because I've got just a
handful of meal in the barrel and a little oil in the cruz.
And I'm going to take them two sticks and cook that handful
of meal and use that oil in the cruz. And my son and I are going
to eat this meal and we're going to die. She's gathering sticks
for the supper. Are you with me tonight? Hallelujah. Now she says, it's the life supper.
It's the fowl meal. Amen. It's the death meal. Hallelujah. Amen? And she kept
walking off and he said, by the way, go ahead and do what I said
for the Word of the Lord said. Hallelujah. You'll make me a
cake first. The oil and the crews and the
meal and the barrel won't fail until the Lord sends rain upon
the earth. Amen? Do you all realize what
she thought was her last meal turned out to be her first meal?
Are you down to your last meal tonight? Are you down to gather
in sticks? Thank God! And you're going to
use up everything you've got? Hallelujah! And that's the end of it? You have no hope? Are you at
the end of your rope tonight? Hey God, this is the end. You're at the bottom of the barrel. Hallelujah. What can I say to
you tonight? Hey God, if you'll obey what
the Word of the Lord said, it won't have to be your last meal.
It can be that new beginning. Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. The Bible said she
did as a man of the Lord. Ain't God the man of God told
her to do in the Word of the Lord? And her and her son lived
on that? All during the famine. Now, the
Bible said when Elijah came upon her, she's a gathering sticks.
Amen? Hallelujah. I don't think she's
got a handful. I don't think she's got an armful.
I think she's going through, trying to find the right size.
the right length, the right diameter, and she's going through several.
Thank God. Say, I don't think this is it.
But she winds up and she says to Him, I just got two sticks. Amen. Are you all hearing me
tonight? Thank God. Oh, two sticks, you may think
it's death, but you'll find out there why. It is death, death
to you, but it'll bring the life of Christ. If you'll go to the
cross, to the two sticks, it'll bring you to the end of yourself.
I'm ready to put Christ's life in you. Paul said, thank God
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who heard me
and gave himself for me. Hallelujah. Can I say this tonight? Thank
God she gathered two sticks, a man and a handful of meal and
the oil and the crews. And there are verses that I read
to you tonight. I've gone through verse 16, talks
again about the meal, wasting not and the oil and the crews,
not failing. But two sticks are never mentioned
again. The oil and the meal were mentioned again, but not two
sticks, because two was enough. Can I say and report to you tonight,
I ain't got on an old rugged tree, a cold caldwell, I ain't
got at a place called Dalgotha, on an old rugged cross, on a
hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, me and my mum suffering
in shame, Ain't God, hallelujah! I'm telling you, Christ appeared
once in the end of the world, and by the sacrifice of Himself,
I put away forever our sin! Are y'all hearing me? Ain't God,
hallelujah! He won't have to die again! There
won't have to be another cross tonight! Ain't God that one once
in half? It's enough for you to live tonight! Oh, hallelujah! It's enough for you to be saved
tonight! And God, He is perfected above
that one offering forever! Him that are sanctified! Amen! Hallelujah! And the widow's gathering steaks
for the supper. Amen? Well, I said, I'm through
tonight. Acts chapter 28, the Bible said
in verse 3, and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks. Amen? There was the man that
gathered sticks on the Sabbath. There was the woman that gathered
sticks for the supper. Amen? And here's the apostle
Paul that gathered sticks. But he's bitten by the snake.
Hallelujah. Amen? I like Paul gathering sticks. He's aged now. He's not as young
as he was. Amen? Oh, my. I don't know how his hands work
after all that tent making. Amen? Are you hearing me? But he said, I can gather sticks. He didn't build a fire, but he
sure wanted to put some wood on it. Lord, our churches tonight, if
we had folks that want to put wood on the fire instead of wet
blankets. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, bless His name. Thank God
wildfire is a wet blanket. Amen. Deadness is a wet blanket.
Ceremonialism and formalism is a wet blanket. Amen. Unholy lives, unclean lives
is a wet blanket. Won't you hear me tonight? But
Paul said, I want to bring some wood to the fire. Now, he's the
agent. Thank God he's the one that had
the message. Thank God for the entire ship. Thank God. If they'd listened to him, the
first message he had, they would not have been in the shape they're
being. But they're glad to hear the second message. Thank God. When he said, the angel of the
Lord, who's I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night. Thank
God. And he said, I was going to see
Caesar. I'm headed to Rome. And God said, he's going to give
me the lives of all them that sail with me. I know you think,
some of you think the preachers are killing you and he may be
the very reason you're being saved tonight. Hallelujah. Are you listening
to me tonight? Thank God. And so here they are
on the island of Melita and Paul. I've been the elder among them
and the preacher among them. Ain't God headed to Rome? Knows
where He's going. Could have put His hands behind
His back or to His side. I fought Him and said, let somebody
else do it. But He said, I think I'll put
someone. Ain't God holding a fire? Are
y'all hearing me tonight? Why are you waiting on the night?
Why is it you come to the house of God and to the camp meet waiting
for somebody else? Why don't you put wood on the
fire? Why don't you chop summer to
half? Why don't you pray through and
get victory and come to the house of God with some sticks gathered
and a beetle at the fire? Well, I don't know it's just
there You'd be awful critical how we're doing it, but I don't
say you're doing anything You want us to quit trying and
let you have it? And see how you do it? Are you
all hearing me tonight? No, I'll tell you what you're
going to do tonight. I ain't going to let you tell
everybody else how to do it. But you'll never lift your hand
to do anything. You won't gather no sticks, but
you sure like to warn. By the fire, hallelujah. Hey, the rain's on. It's cold and it's wet. Hey God,
we need somebody to help gather some sticks and to build up the
fire. Well, well, hallelujah. Bless His name. He's gathering
sticks even though He's been through a storm. Hallelujah. And still in a storm. He's a-gathering
sticks in the midst of a storm. Are you all hearing me tonight?
Oh, have you give up in the storm? Have you throwed up your hands
in the storm? Have you said there's nothing
to be done? They were not still in the ocean. They were on the land. But oh,
the wind was still howling. The gale force winds were still
blowing. The rain was still falling. It
was a cold day. But in the midst of the storm,
he said, I believe I'll gather some sticks. He's gathering sticks,
though he's been shipwrecked. Some of you have been shipwrecked
tonight. Oh, all your faith has been shipwrecked
tonight. Amen. You've been shipwrecked
morally. Amen. You've been shipwrecked
in your marriage. You've been shipwrecked spiritually
tonight. Hallelujah. But oh, don't quit tonight. Gather
up some sticks to put on the fire. Hallelujah. Oh, God help us tonight. Are you listening? Now, he's
gathering up sticks in the storm. Thank God, and though he's been
shipwrecked, it looks like enough has happened to him. And you
see, that's this day. Hallelujah. We can't get over
the storm and the shipwreck. Still trying to do good till
we get a snake bite. Hallelujah. Some of you preachers, you get
your head above water. Amen. Finally, after one weekend,
amen, on Monday morning, and all the other Monday mornings,
you're having to hold your breath or you're going to drown. But
for all, finally, it's a little better the past Sunday and Sunday
night. And on Monday morning, you've
got your head above water. And you're at least breathing
a little bit. And you say, well, maybe we're
coming out of it now. Maybe things are going to be
better from here on out. Thank God. Amen. I've seen some
of you gathering sticks. Maybe, thank God, by next service
we'll be a little better. And you start gathering sticks
yourself, and the next thing you know, you get smacked back. And you think, what else can
happen? What else can go wrong? What else can knock me down?
What else can bucket me? Amen. What else can they say? What else can they not do? Amen.
How else can they hurt me? How many other ways can they
pierce through me? Some of you are not preachers,
you're not just saints of God. And it seems like, over and over
again, it's another messenger of Satan. And I bet that you,
yes, you've cried. and to put the storm and the
ship right behind you, and gather up some sticks to put on the
fire, and the venomous beast has latched on to your hand tonight,
and you took your sticks to the fire, oh my, and it looks like
certain death. Are you hearing me? Amen? As a matter of fact, that barbarous
people that inhabited that island said, hey, hey, Here's one of
them fellas that's wicked and evil, and he escaped the storm
and the sea, didn't drown in it, but the gods, amen, have
still got it out for him. And a beast, that poisonous snake,
and we're going to watch him swell up and die here in just
a minute, because vengeance is on that fella. He escaped it
from the sea, but he couldn't escape from the snake. Ain't
nobody else will either, amen. And Paul just walks over there
and throws his bundle of sticks in the fire and shakes off the
snake. And walks on. Can you shake it off tonight? Can you shake it off tonight?
Amen. Hallelujah. He shook it off! And they kept watching for him
to swell up and die. And He didn't die, and He didn't
look no different, and they changed their minds and said He ain't
under the vengeance or the anger or the wrath or the judgment
of the gods, He is a God. Because nobody can do that and
live. Thank God. And Paul said, it ain't me. Hallelujah. It's the God I serve. Can I remind you the storm? Can
I remind you the shipwreck? Can I remind you the snakebite
you have tonight? It's for the furtherance of the
gospel. Amen. See, because it ain't about
you and me, no how. It's about Him. Amen. And sometimes
it's rough sailing in rough waters, and it's enemy territory. And it's venomous snake bites
that God allows us to go through to get glory out of our life,
to have His name magnified. And before others, and to have
others look up and say, how did they do it? It's not them. It's evidently the God that is in me. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. And they'll never see God in
you until all of you has got rid of Him. And I realize more and more as
I be a Christian and a preacher, there's a whole lot more of me
than I thought there was. And I die here and I die there. And I realize there's some more
of me. But every point in time when
I get down, till I don't think I can do it no more, till I'm
at the end of myself, That's when Paul said, I will
therefore most glory in my infirmities, and that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. For when I am weak, the invite
God I'll find a strength that I didn't know was there. As long
as I can do it in my ability, in my strength, in my reasoning,
in my logic, And in my flesh, I don't find that strength, but
when I reach the end of that, there is a supernatural power
that comes over me that enables me to go out and do the work
and the will of God. Hallelujah. What he's literally
saying is, there is a power that tents and tabernacles over me. Hallelujah. There is a strength
that comes down like a tent and hovers over me. Have you ever
felt it? Where are you tonight? And he
shook off the snake, raised up the sick man, preached the gospel,
and went on to Rome to see Caesar. Amen? Hallelujah. Oh my. We're headed to see Caesar
tonight. We're headed for Rome. We're
headed where God said we're going tonight. Are you gathering sticks
tonight? Are you gathering sticks on the
Sabbath? Are you defying God's Word and God's Law in your life
tonight? Are you doing it because of the
place you're in and the people you look around? Oh, but hear me. You'll not stand
before God for all what they've done or not done. You'll stand
for yourself. You're responsible for you. Are
you hearing me tonight? Are you gathering sticks for
the supper? Oh, my. Can I say two's enough? Bless
His name. Are you gathering sticks in the
midst of the storm and though you've been shipwrecked? Has
the snake laid hold on you? Oh, don't let the venomous poison
bitter you. Amen. Oh, blinds you. And it will. It will. Would you come tonight? Everybody
stand, please.
Gathering Of Sticks
| Sermon ID | 8216231769 |
| Duration | 54:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Bible Text | 1 Kings 17 |
| Language | English |
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