Buckets of Blessing [Part 1]

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

He is like the bridegroom, and you have been swept off your feet by the one whose love is greater than what you could ever imagine. We are the church, we're the bride of Christ, and he is not just our husband, not just our sacrifice, he is our kinsmen redeemer. 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 Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer.

Contact us at PastorAlan.org, that's PastorAlan.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 Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? The Holy Spirit in you never runs out. God's grace never runs out. The provision of God never runs out. The mercies of God never run out. The joy of the Lord never runs out. The love of God never runs out. The Holy Spirit is the very person of God.

He is the third person of the triune God, and when you're a Christian, He lives in you, He abides in you, and so you have, in a figurative sense, oil that never runs out. That's the picture we get in today's story as we continue our study of Elijah and Elisha, these miracle men that point to the true miracle man, the Lord Jesus, and today we come to 2 Kings chapter 4. I invite you to follow along in 2 Kings chapter 4, a beautiful miracle story. Now the wife, verse 1, now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. And Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you?

Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons, and pour into all these vessels.

And when one is full, set it aside. So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons, and as she poured, they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, there is not another. Then the oil stopped flowing.

She came and told the man of God, and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest. Ever had that moment where you have some gadget, or you have something that you all of a sudden discover that it does something you didn't even know that it did? You know, we were in a rental car in Texas last weekend, so Jeff was driving, pulled up to the gas station to get some gas, and he said, let me see which side is the tank on. He looked up towards the dash, and he pulled over. He said, it's on the left-hand side. He's gonna get some gas. I said, how did you know that the gas tank was on the left side? He said, because there's a little arrow up there right next to the gas gauge, and there's always an arrow, and every car points left or right. I was like, I never knew that. All the times that I've pulled up, you know, in some strange car or whatever, and I never knew that, really.

You know, those moments like that. So my mom got a new car. She got a new Toyota, and it's really cool. She's looking at getting a used one, and then she got us a great deal on a new one. I was with her, and I've just been, I've just been like amazed what the stuff they're putting on the new cars. The new cars today, I mean, they just come in with standard stuff on it.

It's amazing. So not only has it got the rear view camera, but it's got blind spot warnings in the sides. It's got rear cross-traffic alerts, you know, that'll let you know somebody's coming, and lane departure warning. It'll bring you back into the lane if you take your hands off the wheel.

It's got one of those radars you can set it just so it'll stay a certain distance behind the car in front of you. So all this stuff, and so we had a family get together the night, and my niece and Matt, they were over, and we're all down there, and so I was just excitedly telling them all this stuff that mom's new car will do, and everybody looked at her, and she said, yeah, but I don't know how to use most of that stuff. You know the feeling I'm talking about. You ever felt that way? It's kind of way I feel with my iPad or iPhone or something like that.

You know you're using like 1% of what this thing can do because you just don't know how to how to use it. I mean, it's there, and there's more to it than you realize, and today I think the word from the Lord for us today is just think about that. If that's the way it is in natural things, something as mundane as a car or a gadget, and it does much more than you realize, how much more so the things of the Spirit? How much more so do you have in the Holy Spirit? And sometimes you just don't know until you just begin releasing what you do have, and this story today is one of those where Elisha, who has inherited the mantle from Elijah, comes into this widow's life who is in great need and issues this very interesting miracle that is a picture in the end of the Holy Spirit because the oil in the scripture almost always is foreshadowing or picturing symbolizing the work of the Holy Spirit.

Let's think about this great story. The first thing to know about this is that Elisha foreshadows Jesus in remarkable ways, and it starts being indicated to us in this sense that Elijah, the forerunner to Elisha, is compared in the New Testament compared to John the Baptist who was the forerunner to Jesus. So as Elijah was the forerunner to Elisha, John the Baptist was a forerunner to Jesus, which makes you pay a lot of attention to what you see in Elisha's life because it's going to tell you a lot about Jesus. I mean think about this, both Elijah and John the Baptist were prophets who were announcing the need for repentance among the people. Remember Elijah is confronting the idolatry in the land and calling them to repent.

Well, Elijah's ministry prefigures John the Baptist because John the Baptist came with a message of repent, change your way of thinking, a new day is coming. Also, it's very interesting, Elijah had to confront a wicked king in Ahab, and John the Baptist had to confront Herod Antipas. And one of the things that John the Baptist confronted Herod about was immorality in his life because Herod Antipas, this is not Herod the Great that was the one that had the massacre of the innocents when Jesus was born, this is now son Herod Antipas, and this wickedness just runs in this family.

And this Herod had divorced his wife so that he could marry his brother's wife, Herodias. So it was a dark dysfunctional situation and John the Baptist had called him out on this. Well, because of that Herodias, the wife, absolutely hated John the Baptist. So not only does Elijah confront Ahab and John the Baptist confronts Herod in a similar way, but both notably Elijah and John the Baptist had a bloodthirsty queen that wanted to take their lives. You might remember as we looked at the story that Jezebel wanted to kill Elijah.

Now she didn't succeed in that, but she wanted to. But Herodias, this unlawful wife to Herod, hates John the Baptist and here's what happened. On one evening, this is so immoral, so it is dark, but Herodias' daughter comes in and dances for Herod, her stepfather.

And it is not, this is not some beautiful dance, this is a dance that it comes across as one that is seductive and so forth. And Herod is moved by this and he says, ask for whatever you will and I'll give it to you. Well, the daughter goes and talks to her mother Herodias and says, what is it that I should ask the king for? And she said, tell him you want the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And so she does and though he was somewhat grieved by it, Herod fulfilled his vow and it was for that reason that John the Baptist was martyred. I'm saying is that you see that Elijah was confronting an evil king and was pursued by a bloodthirsty queen and so was John the Baptist. All this makes you begin to think that Elisha's life is going to in so many ways prefigure or foreshadow Jesus's life and ministry.

And interestingly, there are many parallels. Elisha's ministry begins at the Jordan River when Elijah strikes his cloak down on the Jordan and passes his mantle to Elisha. And where does Jesus's ministry start?

At the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. So you're paying attention to this because you can see in Elisha's life and ministry parallel after parallel that is painting a portrait of what is going to come in Jesus in fullness. So the Old Testament has shadows the reality of which are seen in Jesus. And the difference between a shadow and the reality is easy to understand.

When you see a shadow, you can see a semblance of what that person might look like, but it is no comparison to seeing the person in vivid color and seeing his or her own face. So the Old Covenant is not just these beautiful stories and miracles. It's all part of one grand story that's all pointing us to Jesus. So ultimately when we read a story like this and you're looking for, what is this showing me that I can learn about Jesus?

And here's one of the things. Elisha in coming to aid this poor widow is functioning to her, though he is not this, he's functioning as if he is a kinsman redeemer. Now a kinsman redeemer was part of the law and custom in ancient Israel whereby widows could be cared for and ultimately could continue their families.

Here's the way it would happen. That because it was such a patriarchal society, women had very little ways of providing for themselves and their family. That if a woman were to die, I mean a woman's husband were to die and she is left helpless, then the custom in Israel would be for the nearest unmarried relative to come and marry her and thus become what was known as a kinsman redeemer. And that husband would buy custom if the woman had sold property in order to try to make ends meet he would buy back that property. He would redeem it, right? So it's like the idea of redemption is something that you've handed over but you didn't want to and it really should be yours and so it's bought back, it's redeemed. That's what it means to be redeemed. If you have something and you've handed it over to a creditor but then someone comes in and buys it back, you get it back from the creditor. And so the kinsman redeemer would come and would would buy back what had been lost and would marry this woman so that the family property could continue and the family name could continue.

But this was a poor widow and evidently she had no kinsman redeemer and Elisha steps in to believe for this miracle. 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 best-selling 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. You might know the story of Ruth and this is the clearest example of a kinsman redeemer where Ruth is widowed her her her husband is gone she has no hope in the world and Naomi who is also widowed encourages her to meet with Boaz who's the closest family relative and Boaz marries Ruth and they have they have continued family and it actually is from this line that Jesus comes. So this notion of the kinsman redeemer is a very important one. Elisha steps in not to marry this woman but instead to provide a miracle that functions in the same way that a kinsman redeemer would have because she's able to pay off her creditors. The predicament was terrible for this woman. What had happened was she had gone into tremendous debt trying to just survive and the only way that she could see moving forward was she was going to sell her sons into slavery. So it was an option.

You could surrender your own children as indentured servants and they would instead of getting a salary they would work off the debt that the family had accumulated. They were essentially enslaved and this was what she was planning on doing. So she's a woman with no way to move forward unless there's a kinsman redeemer and there's no kinsman redeemer and Elisha shows up and she makes her appeal to him because her husband had been a son of one of the prophets. So it's sort of like Elisha was the head of all the prophetic ministry and one of the prophets under him it was his son and he had a predisposition to do all that he could for this woman.

Now what does this point to? It points to this that one of the most beautiful images of Christ is that he serves like a kinsman redeemer. You understand that there are many images of God. He is a king. He is a creator. He is Lord.

He is Father but there also is a beautiful image that runs all throughout the scripture that pictures God as being like the bridegroom to a bride and so the church is compared to the bride. In fact in Ephesians chapter 6 Paul is talking about husbands and wives and how they should live together and he says there but behold I'm speaking of a mystery of Christ and the church that in a very real sense what God has done for you and Jesus Christ as he has looked upon you as if you were like this helpless widow who had no alternative except to fall into slavery because of massive debt and has come as the one who is closest to you and has deep and abiding affection for you and not only redeems you by buying back what you have suffered in debt to creditors but marries you and weds his life to you to love you to be with you forever. He is not just the Redeemer who buys back what has been lost from you he is the lover of your soul.

He is like the bridegroom and you have been swept off your feet by the one whose love is greater than what you could ever imagine. We are we are the church we're the bride of Christ and he is not just our husband not just our sacrifice he is our kinsman redeemer. So Elisha comes and he cares for this woman and he becomes like a kinsman redeemer to her because she's so desperate. A debt that she could not possibly pay that leads to slavery can you feel the pathos of the situation and understand it's a picture of every person apart from Christ. Every person born in sin the Bible says.

With a debt of guilt no matter who you are God is perfectly holy and we and our sin have accumulated a debt that we simply cannot pay. She goes to Elisha like going to a mediator what can be done for me utterly helpless and without supernatural intervention she surely perishes she's empty. I think part of the message of this of this beautiful miracle story is the value of the right kind of emptiness meaning the thirst of our souls for God the hunger blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Remember the first time our first child got sick little Bennett had been in the world for so long and he just never got sick. I mean he was something over a year old when he going back ever gone back to the doctor except for just wellness visits and but he started one day just a little guy act not acting like himself and he was fussing and crying and and he stopped eating. He stopped eating so we took him to the pediatrician and the doctor looked and to his ear and said oh he's got a bad ear infection just broke my heart I just oh how I've been I've been just you know I've been a bad father didn't bring him to the doctor quick enough you know and I'm just sitting there just felt so sorry man and we said and we're just every said but he's not eating anything we're so worried about him and I'll never forget this old wise pediatrician he said oh he said I'm gonna give him some antibiotic and and pretty soon he's gonna be feeling much better and he's gonna eat everything then. Whereas when I realize what we all know that hunger is a sign of health. I just in the natural if you stop being hungry there's something wrong. You know the greatest signs of spiritual health is you're hungry for God.

Hungry for him. Alan Wright today's teaching where we're placing a bookmark here at buckets of blessing in the series Miracle Man. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and our final word today stay with us. 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 best-selling 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. 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. Alan I've heard you say from the pulpit many times that your hunger is increased the more that you digest the Word of God for instance. That's right. It feeds it so you get hungry and hungrier for it. Taste and see that the Lord's good and a relationship with God it's not like you know the the piece of chocolate pie that you had you say oh that's good and then you know at some point you're gonna get full or maybe even sick.

Right exactly. But not with God and today's story this miracle story from the life of Elisha as long as there was an empty vessel there was more oil to come and so what a picture of spiritual hunger in our own lives. Hunger for God. Blessed are those in hunger and thirst for they will be filled. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.