So much in life does not work out as we have planned. Often what we looked for did not come to pass. No matter how crazy life is, it goes on. It doesn’t stop or wait for us to catch our breath. Many times our faith is tried by the facts of life. In our text, Martha notes that Jesus was not present when she needed him to save her brother. The family’s faith was tried by the delay of Jesus arriving on the scene and by the death of Lazarus. We sense in this story the desperation of the family. Things had gone from bad to worse for this family. Lazarus became more and more sick, and ultimately died before Jesus could arrive. Martha knew that “even now” Jesus could make something good happen. The same God in which Martha had this faith, has the same power in our life. Even now, God can reach us where we are and resurrect something in our life that has died. Even now God can make a difference in our life. The One that brought back Lazarus, who had been dead four days, can resurrect something in our life.

The members of the first century church saw the hand of God in literally every aspect of their life. Bro. Hughes notes that this is a wonderful way to live. When we live life that way, it settles many of the small details that confront us every day. First century Christians focused on and talked about the hand of God in their life. By contrast, we tend to think and talk about the circumstances and problems that we face in life.

In our text Paul was intent on preaching and bringing the word to Asia. All indications were that Asia was the logical place to take the gospel. The Spirit however prevented this from happening. Paul recognized and obeyed God’s blocking of his noble effort.

God is in it all. No matter the weather, the circumstance, the disappointments and frustrations, the joy and the blessings. It is here that our faith often breaks down. If God is in the blessings, he is also in the disappointments. It is easy to think that when bad things happen that we are not in the will of God. That is not necessary the case. Bad things happen to good people. It is during those times that the enemy comes in and whispers lies to us: “You must not be living right” “The reason you are going through this is that you aren’t good enough.” The devil may be the source of the trouble, but God is in it all. Good and bad; happy and sad God is in it all.

The members of the first century church saw the hand of God in literally every aspect of their life. Bro. Hughes notes that this is a wonderful way to live. When we live life that way, it settles many of the small details that confront us every day. First century Christians focused on and talked about the hand of God in their life. By contrast, we tend to think and talk about the circumstances and problems that we face in life.

In our text Paul was intent on preaching and bringing the word to Asia. All indications were that Asia was the logical place to take the gospel. The Spirit however prevented this from happening. Paul recognized and obeyed God’s blocking of his noble effort.

God is in it all. No matter the weather, the circumstance, the disappointments and frustrations, the joy and the blessings. It is here that our faith often breaks down. If God is in the blessings, he is also in the disappointments. It is easy to think that when bad things happen that we are not in the will of God. That is not necessary the case. Bad things happen to good people. It is during those times that the enemy comes in and whispers lies to us: “You must not be living right” “The reason you are going through this is that you aren’t good enough.” The devil may be the source of the trouble, but God is in it all. Good and bad; happy and sad God is in it all.

Life can often be challenge. If we are not careful we can fall into that trap of simply surviving. We seem to spend all our time simply trying to make it through. For many Christians, living for God appears to be an up hill struggle that one must endure to make it through. Bro. Hughes laments that one of the difficult tasks a pastor has it to convince people that God truly wants us to have a better life. God does not simply want us to survive, but to thrive and have a blessed life. Our text describes a woman who was suffered the loss of her Husband and is now dealing with the creditors knocking at her door. She wisely goes to the man of God for advice. Elijah tells her to collect empty pots to fill with oil. They do this and begin to pour oil into the vessels. The miraculous flow of oil continued until all the pots were full and there were no more pots. If there had been more vessels, the oil would have continued to flow. God’s blessing to this woman solved her immediate need, and provided for her life in the future. That is the promise of God. He doesn’t want to just bless us for the moment, but to give us a blessing that will carry us for the rest of our life.

Our scripture text really begins with Jesus teaching a multitude of people. This is the miracle of the loaves and fishes. After teaching the multitude, he fed them and sent them away. Bro. Custer observes that is how it is with some people. They come and experience God and go home. Some in the bible experienced him as part of the multitude and went home, but others sought more and desired for more. With all that God has done and how He has blessed His people, Bro. Custer declares that he does not understand how people can simply experience God as part of the multitude. We must step out and seek more.

Jesus sent the disciples across the sea and told them that He would meet them on the other side. They were fishermen and were comfortable with traveling in boats. When they set out, they were comfortable with the situation. However the storm was greater than they had ever experienced. They had weathered storms before and had come through, but this time it was different. In the midst of their greatest storm, Jesus comes walking on the water. Mark says that it appeared as if He would pass them by. Peter, once he heard that it was Jesus, ask to meet Him on the water. All Peter needed to know was that it was Jesus. He didn’t’ have to understand how Jesus was walking on the water, or why He wasn’t sinking, all he needed to know was that it was Jesus. While the others chose to remain in the boat, Peter decided to step out from the multitude and to seek more.

Life can often be challenge. If we are not careful we can fall into that trap of simply surviving. We seem to spend all our time simply trying to make it through. For many Christians, living for God appears to be an up hill struggle that one must endure to make it through. Bro. Hughes laments that one of the difficult tasks a pastor has it to convince people that God truly wants us to have a better life. God does not simply want us to survive, but to thrive and have a blessed life. Our text describes a woman who was suffered the loss of her Husband and is now dealing with the creditors knocking at her door. She wisely goes to the man of God for advice. Elijah tells her to collect empty pots to fill with oil. They do this and begin to pour oil into the vessels. The miraculous flow of oil continued until all the pots were full and there were no more pots. If there had been more vessels, the oil would have continued to flow. God’s blessing to this woman solved her immediate need, and provided for her life in the future. That is the promise of God. He doesn’t want to just bless us for the moment, but to give us a blessing that will carry us for the rest of our life.

Our scripture text really begins with Jesus teaching a multitude of people. This is the miracle of the loaves and fishes. After teaching the multitude, he fed them and sent them away. Bro. Custer observes that is how it is with some people. They come and experience God and go home. Some in the bible experienced him as part of the multitude and went home, but others sought more and desired for more. With all that God has done and how He has blessed His people, Bro. Custer declares that he does not understand how people can simply experience God as part of the multitude. We must step out and seek more.

Jesus sent the disciples across the sea and told them that He would meet them on the other side. They were fishermen and were comfortable with traveling in boats. When they set out, they were comfortable with the situation. However the storm was greater than they had ever experienced. They had weathered storms before and had come through, but this time it was different. In the midst of their greatest storm, Jesus comes walking on the water. Mark says that it appeared as if He would pass them by. Peter, once he heard that it was Jesus, ask to meet Him on the water. All Peter needed to know was that it was Jesus. He didn’t’ have to understand how Jesus was walking on the water, or why He wasn’t sinking, all he needed to know was that it was Jesus. While the others chose to remain in the boat, Peter decided to step out from the multitude and to seek more.

God has chosen a great variety of people to accomplish his purpose. Some are of great spirituality and faith. Others are less than what we would expect of someone who would be used by God. Samson was such a man. There are many things about him that were questionable. His carnal desires and his choice of friends are among those. We read in the life of Sampson of great triumph, but also great failure.

Through all these failures, he maintained a vow and promise to God that kept him in God’s favor. God used him in spite of his recklessness and his willful disobedience. God still used him even though he was far from being a perfect man.

The story of Sampson and Delilah is the story of our life. Delilah was after the same thing in Sampson as the devil is after in all of us. She sought to find the source of our power and anointing. For Sampson his strength was in the vows he had taken as a Nazarene to God. The lost power in his life was due to his consecration being lost. The secret of our strength lies in our consecration to God and to His purpose and calling. The true power in us lies in the restrictions we place on ourselves to remain faithful to Gods calling. When Sampson let those things that set him apart in life go, he succumb to the very things he triumphed over the day before. The world laughs at the separation that Christians have from the world and the commitment to those Godly principles. It is however that very separation that is the source of the power we have to resist those worldly things that would destroy us.

It is in our commitments to God and the boundaries we set up for ourselves that we can find victory over a world that wants to destroy us. Our consecrations are what keep our weakness and shortcomings from destroying us.

We all need commitments in our life that keep us from opening ourselves to things that we shouldn’t be doing. The devil is doing his best to get us to compromise our vows and convince us that the promises we have made to God are no longer valid. Boundaries are the secret of our safety.

God has chosen a great variety of people to accomplish his purpose. Some are of great spirituality and faith. Others are less than what we would expect of someone who would be used by God. Samson was such a man. There are many things about him that were questionable. His carnal desires and his choice of friends are among those. We read in the life of Sampson of great triumph, but also great failure.

Through all these failures, he maintained a vow and promise to God that kept him in God’s favor. God used him in spite of his recklessness and his willful disobedience. God still used him even though he was far from being a perfect man.

The story of Sampson and Delilah is the story of our life. Delilah was after the same thing in Sampson as the devil is after in all of us. She sought to find the source of our power and anointing. For Sampson his strength was in the vows he had taken as a Nazarene to God. The lost power in his life was due to his consecration being lost. The secret of our strength lies in our consecration to God and to His purpose and calling. The true power in us lies in the restrictions we place on ourselves to remain faithful to Gods calling. When Sampson let those things that set him apart in life go, he succumb to the very things he triumphed over the day before. The world laughs at the separation that Christians have from the world and the commitment to those Godly principles. It is however that very separation that is the source of the power we have to resist those worldly things that would destroy us.

It is in our commitments to God and the boundaries we set up for ourselves that we can find victory over a world that wants to destroy us. Our consecrations are what keep our weakness and shortcomings from destroying us.

We all need commitments in our life that keep us from opening ourselves to things that we shouldn’t be doing. The devil is doing his best to get us to compromise our vows and convince us that the promises we have made to God are no longer valid. Boundaries are the secret of our safety.

We live in a success driven world. The bookstores are full of self-help books. We view people and form opinions of them based upon their success or failure in life. Our society places a great importance on success. Many people in our world are focused on survival. They are struggling to survive and success is a bonus. Many describe life as a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers work on a compounding of heat and pressure to produce results. Most of us can handle problems one at a time, but when problems compound themselves and weigh upon us, we find it difficult to cope. Life has a way of throwing multiple problems at us. Like the pressure cooker, this pressure has a way of breaking us down. The pressures of life just keep building and building.

Our text describes a woman who is experiencing just such a situation. This woman who is dealing with the death of her husband, and now the creditors come to call to collect debts that her late husband was never able to repay. The demands upon her are more than her ability to deliver. God had a remedy for her as he does for each of us. She wisely went to the man of God for help. She knew the right place to go for help. She didn’t go to a bar, or sit at a councilor’s office, or complain about her problems on Facebook. The man of God inquired what she had in her house and she replied that she had one vessel of oil. Elisha tells her to go borrow vessels and to borrow “not a few.” She went out and borrowed as many as she could. Nothing limited the blessing and the miraculous flow of oil but the availability of vessels to contain it. Her blessing was only limited by her ability to provide empty vessels. God’s blessing will continue to flow long beyond our ability to receive it and it will far exceed our needs. He wants to meet our needs and give us enough to live life.