God's Man for Life [Part 2]

Allen Wright, pastor, Bible teacher, and author of his latest book, The Power to Bless.

God might let his people hunger, but he provides not by what you see with your eyes, but we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Miracle Man, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'd like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here's Allen Wright. Jezebel, who is the symbol of idolatry and love of worship of Baal, who financed 450 prophets of Baal, is the picture of everything that's gone wrong with the nation because Ahab, the king of Israel, had married this woman, Jezebel. It's like a symbol of everything that's awful. I don't know what you could imagine. Would you say it's like, go to sin city.

I'm going to provide for you there. And so he travels to the epicenter of Baal worship, and he is supposed to find this widow. You know that in the ancient mid-eastern culture, the widow was considered the most vulnerable of all people. It was an intensely patriarchal society, and a widow had no real way to take care of herself.

But this woman had a son that had not yet grown. So she not only had to care for herself, but she had to care for this son. And not only was she a widow in a pagan land, but she was a poor widow. She wasn't a widow that had an inheritance. She had nothing, and she is in a famine.

So she's down to nothing. She's got a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil, and she is depressed to the point that she says, I'm going to gather a few sticks, make a little fire, make one little cake of bread so my son and I can go ahead and die. She's not just a widow. She's a widow that's a poor widow.

She's not just a poor widow. She's a poor widow in Jezebel's land. She's not just a poor widow in Jezebel's land. She's a poor widow in Jezebel's land who is in a famine. And she's not just a poor widow who is in a famine in Jezebel's land.

She's a poor widow who is in famine in Jezebel's land, and she is depressed. And that's who God's going to use to provide. It's interesting, Jesus quotes this story in Luke chapter 4 after he read the scroll of Isaiah, and he sat down and gave it to the tenant, and he says today the scripture's been fulfilled in your hearing. And at first everybody was amazed at the words of Jesus, but then they said, Is this not Joseph's son?

They started saying, This is just a carpenter's boy. And Jesus read their thoughts and said, Doubtless you'll quote to me, Position heal yourself. And he said, Truly I say to you, No prophet's acceptable in his hometown, but in truth I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over the land.

Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. What is Jesus saying? The problem Pharisees is that your minds are way too closed. God is going to be outside your box. He will do things you never imagined.

He's that good. And I just want to mention one third thing, and that is that the account that is told in 1 Kings 17 has a very clear theme to it, and that is the word of the Lord. If you're looking in your Bible at chapter 17, just let your eyes fall upon these at verse 1, Except by my word. That's the prophetic word of the Lord. And then verse 2, And the word of the Lord came to him. And then at verse 4, I have commanded the ravens. Verse 5, So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Verse 8, Then the word of the Lord came to him. Verse 9, I have commanded a widow. Verse 14, For thus says the Lord. And then at verse 15, went and did as Elijah said. And at verse 16, Neither did the jug of oil become empty according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. This isn't really a story about ravens or brooks or widows or flour or oil. This is a story about the word of the Lord.

Over and over and over. The word of the Lord. So here is Elijah in a wilderness hungry and thirsty.

And the word of the Lord provides. So it makes me think of a time that Jesus was in a wilderness hungry and thirsty. Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Now when he said it is written, he was referencing Deuteronomy chapter 8. Where at verse 2, the word of the Lord says, You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness. That he might humble you, test in you to know what was in your heart whether you keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know. That he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. So Jesus is in a wilderness like Elijah was and he is tempted to quickly turn the stones into bread so that he wouldn't hunger anymore. And Jesus fights off the tempter by quoting Deuteronomy which references when the people of God were in the wilderness. And God let them experience wilderness, but while they were in it, he provided manna every morning, a flaky bread like substance that would sustain them.

And so all of this is pointing to some huge gospel realities for us. What would be the big deal if Jesus just turned the stones into bread? I mean he could do that easily and satisfy his hunger. What's the big deal that he's being tempted toward? Well Jesus is being tempted to deny his humanity and to deny human suffering and deny human hunger. The temptation was since you're the son of God, you don't need to experience the things that human beings experience. But see the whole mission of God and Jesus Christ depended on Jesus being willing to be obedient even in the times of suffering. So that he would become obedient under suffering the death of the cross. So in other words, if Jesus was not willing to be human, he couldn't be the human representative, he couldn't pay the price for humanity and we wouldn't be saved. So if he turned stones to bread, if he said I'm not going to follow the path of the mission that is set before me because it's difficult and I'm hungry, if he did that, then we would all be lost.

And so the temptation of Jesus was to accept his divinity but deny his humanity so that he would not be a substitutionary atonement for you and for me. And see Elijah was in a middle of a famine that remember he had prayed this famine into being. And don't you know that he had told Ahab because he had been authorized by God the famine will end when I give my word. So don't you know Elijah was tempted as soon as he got hungry to just say this whole famine thing is no good and just call on the rain.

But instead he endured the hunger and relied on the supernatural provision of the Lord. Because God might let his people hunger but he provides not by what you see with your eyes but we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You see this is the way I see it the bread, the oil, the flour is not the provision it's the manifestation of the provision. The provision is the word of the Lord. God is the provider and the provision is his word. For when he says let there be light there's going to be light. The light's the manifestation of the promise but the promise is the thing you live on.

You live on the promises of God. Do we need the physical? Yes we do. Do we need daily food?

Yes we do. But what God is saying to us is if you could get this revelation down in your spirit that God's word is so true that all he has to do is send you a word. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book The Power to Bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month you'll not only receive the bestselling book but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. My daughter's a freshman in college and I pay the tuition and she knew I wanted to bless her to go to college. We looked together at all the schools. She's in college. She doesn't even see the money that goes from my account into the accounts at the University of North Carolina. She's not even thinking about that because the father is the provider and the word is the provision. The rest of it is just a detail and that's who God is. He's the provider and His promises are the provision and Jesus Christ, John said, is the Word of God who became flesh and every promise is yes and amen in Jesus. Feed therefore on Jesus.

Feed on His grace. Can I tell you a miracle story? I just love when we're talking about a lie to tell some miracle stories. This is one of the most delightful, miraculous provision stories.

Dear friends of ours, Ron and Sandra Block who live in Tennessee and Ron is a worldwide known musician, multiple Grammy winner and Sandra tells a story that will make you smile and blow your mind. The sequence and the details of this are very important. I want to get this right because it began like this. Years ago, Ron and Sandra put some new floors in their house and when they did, they had to get everything off the floor and so they took everything that was on the floor and they loaded a bunch of bins and then they put those bins in various places and as anybody who's ever moved knows, sometimes the bins and boxes don't get unloaded and if you don't unload them pretty soon, they can sit there for years and then you don't even notice anymore that it's sitting there and you have no idea what's in the bin. This had happened. Sometime after, years after this, the new floors were in, their dog died. Beloved family pet and it was a traumatic and painful thing and their daughter is a wonderful animal lover and in absence of the dog, she began to beg that they could raise some chickens. They live out kind of on a ranch or something and she'd always wanted to get some little chicks and raise them and Sandra always said, are you kidding?

No way. But in the grief of missing their dog, she relented and said, okay, we'll get some chickens. So, and this is important to the story, they got 10 chicks and the chicks lived in little shoeboxes initially or whatever. Sometime after this, the mother was thinking about their son, Ethan, who was going to be graduating from being homeschooled and she just wanted to have a big celebration, a big graduation party and spare no expense for it and have a big deal about this because he'd been homeschooled, he'd graduated and she wanted to make a big deal out of it. And so she's thinking about making it special and memorable but it's going to cost a good bit of money. Well, around that time, Sandra's sister called from Canada where she lived with her husband and I think four kids and she said much to Sandra's delight that she wanted to come and visit and that they wanted to come and visit for about two weeks. Well, Sandra was ecstatic, she loved her sister, she couldn't wait to see them and yet she started thinking about we're going to have these five or six people come live with us for a couple weeks and I want to treat them well and I want to have plenty of food and I want to do nice things with them and so she started thinking about not only Ethan's graduation is going to cost some money but it's going to cost some money to host my dear family for a couple weeks and that's going to be expensive too. So now she's got two expenses that she's thinking about. Well, same time, wonderful elderly friend that they had befriended for many years, a woman who didn't have very much at all, she was poor but never in all their friendship had this lady, I'll call her Bessie, had she ever asked anything of Ron and Sandra. But right during this same time, Bessie called and said she was going through a very difficult time, could Sandra and Ron, could they help her financially and without even thinking, Sandra said yes, of course.

And then she realized I'm trying to arrange a big homeschool graduation, I'm getting ready to host my sister's family for a couple weeks and now I've got a third expense here that I have not prepared for. Meanwhile, the chickens are growing, they've been in a shoebox, they've been transitioned to a bigger cardboard box, they've outgrown their box and they had to have a new place to live and looking around the house, Sandra saw this bin. And she said, you know, that'd be a perfect place for the chickens. They've been sitting there for years, she said I wonder what's in it. So she starts unloading the bin and it was a walk down memory lane as she was unloading it, she came across a little box. And it was a little box that used to sit on the baby's changing table.

Many, many, many years earlier. And on top of the box, now remember the three things on her mind, graduation for her son and hosting her sister and Bessie. And on top of the little box, she said, was a photo of Ethan when he was little.

And now here he was graduating and she just thought about Ethan, thought about the graduation. And she opened up the little box and inside was a piece of cardboard and it had attached to it a precious gift that she'd forgotten her sister had given her years before. They were pins, little awards that her sister had received because she was on a champion Canadian curling team.

You know that kind of shuffleboard on ice thing in the Olympics? She was very good at that and instead of getting medals, you got pins. And she'd taken her pins, put them onto some cardboard and given it to Sandra and Sandra years ago tucked it in a little box. So there's Ethan on the cover of the box and then her sister who's getting ready to come and they need to provide for is the next thing that symbolizes and she's warmed by that. She picked up that piece of cardboard and underneath the cardboard where the pins were, she looked and there was a picture of Bessie. She didn't even know she had a picture of Bessie. And so there were all three of them, all three of the ones that she wanted to help bless and provide for in some way and was wondering how are we going to do all this at one time. And this is Sandra, our dear friend, so I'm telling you firsthand from Sandra's mouth, she said she picked up the picture of Bessie and she looked underneath and according to her words, it was not one, not two, not three, but $4,000 in cash. She said she had no earthly idea while it was there. Ron had some vague memory of many, many years before maybe having some music gig and he got paid in cash and just said, you know, it might be a good idea to just stick some cash around the house.

And Sandra said they had a great graduation party, hosted her sister's family, did all kind of fun things for two weeks and then gave a nice financial gift to Bessie and had plenty still to enjoy for themselves. My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4, 19, I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Psalm 81, for the Lord God is a son and a shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84, 11 seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. How will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Now to Him who is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us.

To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. The young lion sufferer want and hunger but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body or what you'll put on.

Is life not more than food and the body not more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work. God will provide and that's the gospel.

Allen Wright. And certainly good news for today from our teaching God's man for life and this is from the series Miracle Man. Allen is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and our final word today. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book The Power to Bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Allen Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month you'll not only receive the bestselling book but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website pastorallen.org. So Allen, God's man for life, or we could put here God's woman for life, is that you and me? Yeah, I think that you look at Elijah and go, you know, he is God's man that God uses to bring about life, right?

And yet he's no different than we are. And whatever you're facing right now in your life, whatever need you might have, whatever provision, it is perhaps even in the midst, like Elijah was, in the midst of a famine or the midst of a drought. And yet right in the middle of it God provides supernaturally. And watch for it, wait for it. God loves to provide even when it looks like there is no way. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.