(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find your seats, go ahead and grab a songbook. Turn to song number 143, Blessed Assurance. Song number 143, Blessed Assurance. Let's all stand together for this first song, song number 143, Blessed Assurance. On that last verse, we're going to hold out in the chorus, This Is My Story, so just be prepared for that to follow along, alright? Song number 143, Blessed Assurance. All together nice and strong on that first verse. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Now burst on my sight. Angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed, watching and waiting. Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Amen. Wonderful scene. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us this day, Lord, that we can come to your house and to sing these songs unto you, Lord, and we thank you for the assurance of your salvation that you've given to us. And I ask that you would please just bless the service today, Lord. I ask that you would please bless, of course, every aspect of the service, Lord, but most of all, please fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches your word unto us. And please bless the singing, Lord. Give us your spirit also in the congregation that we may sing mightily. And give us your spirit, Lord, that we may take the things that pastor preaches unto us and apply them to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Please turn your songbooks to song number 63. Song number 63. What a day that will be. There is coming a day. Song number 63. All together nice and strong on the first verse. There is coming a day when no heartache shall come. No more clouds in the sky. No more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there. No more burdens to bear. No more parting over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 100, song number 100, day by day. If you want to get that ready in your songbook, song number 100. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030. Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. Currently going through the book of 2 Samuel. I want to encourage you to be there for that. You see the soul winning teams and times, the list of expecting mothers, if you can continue to pray for them. And then the important reminders there at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events. Tomorrow we have the Barstow soul winning. And we'll meet here at the building at 1130 for lunch. We'll head out for a couple of hours and we'll have dinner out there as well. If you're interested in participating in that, you can see brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details. You could either catch a ride with us or you can meet us out there. Just get all the info from him. And then we have the ladies prayer breakfast coming up on Saturday, February 4th. Miss Angela Lemons baby shower is coming up on Sunday, February 12th. If I'm not mistaken, if you have any questions about that, you can see Miss Kelly Francescini. Okay. And then the Belize missions trip is on Saturday, February 26th through Sunday, March 5th. Please be in prayer over that, that we see a lot of people saved on that trip and that we'd be able to collect a lot of information. We're looking to just keep in contact with the converts out there so that when we head back in November, we're planning to have a preaching service. And so pray that all would go well and that it would be a prosperous and successful trip. And then of course, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Make sure you're not loitering in the four year fellowship hall during the preaching service. Quiet time is this afternoon from 3pm to 4.15 throughout the whole building. And then of course, lastly is please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. All right. And that is it. Let's go to sing our next song, song number 100, Day by Day. Song number 100, Day by Day. All together on that first verse. Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose art is kind beyond all measure, Gives unto each day what he deems best. Lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord himself is near me, Show mercy for each hour. All my cares he fain would bear and cheer me, He whose name is counselor and power. The protection of his child and treasure, Is a charge that on himself he laid. As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure, This the pledge to me he made. Help me then in every tribulation, That I lose not faith's weak consolation, Offered me within thy holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, There to take as from a Father's hand. One by one the days, the moment's fleeting, Till I reach the Promised Land. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forward to collect the offering. You may turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter number 12. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Genesis chapter number 12. The Bible reads, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I'll show thee. And I'll make of thee a great nation, and I'll bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I'll bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sychem, under the plain of Mori, and the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haai on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. And came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me where they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair. The princess also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep, and oxen, and asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh in his house with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why sayest thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to meet a wife. Now therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." Let's pray to the Lord God. I just thank you for your word. Thank you for this opportunity we have to assemble here, to hear it preached. I just ask that you would be with Pastor Mejia now. Please strengthen him, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and please help him to manifest your word through the preaching. And just give us here to hear it, and introduce him and pray. Amen. Okay, we're in Genesis chapter 12 this morning. Look down at your Bibles at verse number nine. It says, And Abram journeyed, excuse me, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. I want to preach on the subject of famines in the Bible this morning, and just kind of go over the most prominent famines that we see in the Word of God. A famine refers to an extreme scarcity of food, that in some cases produces mass starvation, and of course death. And obviously there's many famines throughout the Bible, but even throughout history there's a lot of famines that have killed millions and millions of people. And famines can often be a result of just different things, various situations. One, of course, being war. You have the Russian famine of 1921 that was due to civil wars, where rail systems were unable to effectively distribute food to certain areas. And the result of that is the approximate death of about two to three million people. You have famines due to natural disasters, right, where maybe a flood takes place, a tsunami of some sort, and a flood or, you know, their crops die for whatever reason, weather changes. We have the Irish potato famine in 1845, where there's a blight of the crops, and it resulted in a seven-year famine that led to approximately two million deaths. Now obviously some would argue that the potato famine was an act of genocide by the British government, and a lot of the famines that we see throughout history, you kind of see the British government kind of looming over that, and maybe there might be some possibility that they were obviously a part of that. You have the Bengal famine in 1943, where about two to three million people died. Northern Chinese famine in 1876, where 13 million died. Some of it's due to drought or even excessive rain. And one thing you'll notice with all these famines throughout history, I'm talking about the most probably the 10 most worst famines, is that they're more often than not this list is actually filled with China and or India, okay. You say what's the common denominator there? Well they're godless nations, okay. And obviously, you know, you have famines here that are a result of excessive rain, drought of some sort, or just wicked leaders who wanted to commit mass genocide, but in either case both of them are a judgment of god upon a nation that has rejected god's word. But some of the other ones here, the Bengal famine in 1770, the monsoon season failed and so obviously killed a lot of crops, approximately 10 million died. Of course these numbers are not exact, they're approximate. The Dojai Bara famine in 1789, 11 million deaths. Chilisa famine in 1793, 11 to 12 million deaths. Chinese famine in 1907, 25 million deaths. And of course, as I mentioned, there are certain families that are just man-made. It's not because there's a drought, not because, you know, there was a flood. It's because they have wicked leaders that are withholding resources and food. For example, Ukraine famine in 1932, also known as the Huldamar, which means to kill by starvation, was a man-made famine devised by the Soviet leaders to eliminate people throughout the Ukraine. 3 to 12 million deaths, approximate number. The great Chinese famine in 1959, as a result of Mao Zedong's great leap forward policies, where 20 to 55 million people died. And that is what they consider to be a conservative number. Some would even say it was probably more than that, maybe 70 million or so. But the point that I'm trying to get across here is that, you know, famine is obviously a horrible thing that takes place. And there's various reasons why, but let's just be honest with ourselves, is the fact that God allows it, right? It's God's judgment upon a nation. It's God's providential hand allowing this to take place, either to punish a nation or to get the attention of the innocent and righteous people within that wicked nation. Okay. Now, famines, as I mentioned, were a common occurrence in the Bible. And this morning, we're going to look at some of the most prominent famines and what we can learn from them. Now, we're not experiencing any type of famine today in America, but, you know, sometimes because of the economy, because of inflation, you know, the price of eggs and stuff and bacon, you know, Christians can get this attitude where it's just like, oh, we're in a famine right now, or we're suffering. And, you know, what are we going to do? There's so much bad things taking place, and the economy is falling apart, and I have no eggs, and I have no chickens, and Sarah can only give so many eggs to so many people. You know, she only has so many chickens and all these things, you know, she's the most popular person in our church right now, apparently. I'm just kidding. You know, anytime inflation takes place, and maybe the government starts doing weird stuff, you know, let me just say this, is the last thing you need to do is go to your favorite conspiracy channel, YouTube, and see what the world has to say about it, what some unsaved person who doesn't believe the Bible, doesn't read the Bible, doesn't know the Bible, what they have to say about it. And most Christians, that's what they do. It's like, oh, man, there's inflation. What does so and so have to say about it? Why don't you actually go to the Bible? Why don't you actually go to the Word of God? Why don't you actually go to prayer and stop compartmentalizing God and the Bible and Christianity recognize that the Bible has everything that pertains to life and godliness. Okay. And so that's what we're going to do this morning. And obviously, you know, throughout the Bible, God wants us to preach on his judgments, okay, and famine is one of his judgments. You can say there in Genesis chapter 12, but Ezekiel chapter six, and verse 11 says, Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword by the famine, and by the pestilence. Now, why do famines occur? Well, as I mentioned, is it's obviously a judgment of God. And I'm gonna read you from Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 20. And here in this passage, it actually states that famine is one of God's go to judgments. Okay, many, many go to judgments that God goes to, but famine is one of them. And we obviously see that throughout the Bible. But it says here in Ezekiel chapter 14, and verse 21, for thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sword judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the pestilence to cut off from it, man and beast. So we see that it's labeled as one of the four sword judgments that he sends upon the world upon a nation. And the reason why is because a lack of food, a scarcity of resources can get someone's attention, especially if they're God's people. And so we're going to start off first in Genesis chapter 12, let's talk about the famine during the days of Abraham, obviously, his name at this point is Abram. But for the sake of not saying Abram and going back for them, I'm just gonna call him Abraham. Okay, for those of you who don't like that, I'm just like, I know his name is Abram during this time. Okay, I'm just gonna call him Abraham for now. Now, what is the lesson that we can learn from the famine during Abraham's time? Well, look at verse number nine of Genesis chapter 12. It says in Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south, and there was a famine in the land. Now what land is he referring to? It's referring to the land of Canaan. So in Genesis chapter 12, God commands Abraham to go out of his land to a land that he was going to show him a land that was going to be flowing with milk and honey. Well, he gets there. And we don't know exactly how much time has passed by by the time he got there and the famine took place. But there's a scarcity of food. And the first thing that he does is what? He goes down into Egypt. It says there was a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there. Now what does it mean to sojourn? It means to visit for a moment. Okay, a temporary moment. You're just kind of visiting there. You're traveling there. You're not planning to stay there very long. It's a sojourn. You're going to be there temporarily until you can get your resources back up to par, etc. It says Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was grievous in the land. Now let me say this is that this was a really bad idea. Okay, say why is that? Well, when he goes to when he's being led of God, he ends up going to Bethel, right? And Bethel means the house of God. And so he's there. He's right with God, he's being led of the Lord, a famine takes place, and he leaves Bethel to go to Egypt. Now when you study the Bible, you'll see that very frequently the Bible associates Egypt with the world. Okay. And in fact, it's funny how it says that he went down into Egypt. Why? Because whenever you leave the house of Bethel, you leave the house of God, you're going down. Okay. You know, you think of Jonah, right? When he didn't want to go preach into the Ninevites, the Bible says he was going down, and he went down into the ship into the lower parts of the ship, even to the point where he went down into the well's belly. Anytime you decide to go contrary to God's word, the only direction you can go is down. Okay. Until you get to the point where you hit rock bottom. And then there's only there's only one place to look and that's up. Okay. Where you're asking God to help you out of there. But Egypt is a picture of the world. It's a picture of, you know, the world system, and what the world's philosophy or whatever may be. So he decides to go there because he's afraid. He's like, man, there's a scarcity of food. I don't have resources. I have my family. So he makes this decision to actually go into the world, go down into Egypt to sojourn there. I think he's not going to go there for long. He's only going to go there for a little bit, a temporary time. And then he's going to come back. Then he's going to get right with God. And then he's going to go back to Bethel. Now in chapter 13, he does go back to Bethel, right? Chapter 13, he comes back. He goes to where his tabernacle was in Bethel. And he calls upon the name of the Lord. Once again, he gets right with God and him and Sarah live happily ever after wrong, wrong. Now Abraham is a spiritual person. He's a father of faith. So this, this spiritual setback that he had, he was able to bounce back from that because he got back and then he goes to Bethel. He goes to the house of God and he kind of goes, he just runs things the way he used to and he gets right with God. However, the people that he brought with him were not able to bounce back. Okay. Not only that, but a lesson that we learned from him going into Egypt during the time of famine is that whenever you decide to go into the world to fix some sort of problem that God could have taken care of for you, you often come back with baggage. Okay. Now you said, what do you mean by that? Well, when Abraham came back from Egypt to Bethel, you know, he brought back his family, but he also brought back Hagar who was an Egyptian who would later bear his son Ishmael, which would eventually represent be a representation of unsafe Jews. Okay. And as an allegory, but you say, well, what's the problem with Hagar? Well, you know, Hagar represents Sarah's lack of faith because when she could not bear children, she asked Abraham to marry Hagar, to bear children for her. And it was just a huge mess. Okay. Let me read to you from Isaiah chapter 30, verse number one, it says, woe to the rebellious children, say the Lord that take counsel, but not of me and that cover with the covering, but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin. So this isn't just something that we apply in the New Testament, even in the Old Testament, God says, Hey, woe unto you, cursed are you when you go down into Egypt, because you're depending on them to take care of you. You go to them for their counsel, you go to them for their YouTube wisdom, you go to them for their economic knowledge or whatever, but you're not going to God. Okay. He says in verse two, that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore, shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt, your confusion. What is he saying? Whenever God's people decide to depend on the world to provide for them, they'll eventually leave ashamed. They'll be disappointed. Why? Because the world cannot provide for you what God can provide for you, which is actual peace. People are looking for resources and provision so that it can have tranquility and peace of mind that everything's going to be okay. But here's the thing, folks, is that God's the only one that can provide that type of peace with or without resources. The Bible talks about the peace of God that passeth all understanding. And it comes about when we pray, when we make supplication, make our requests be made known unto God, then he gives us that peace that passes all understanding through Christ Jesus. Okay. And so this is a bad idea. And look, another reason why we know this is a bad idea is because of the fact that his descendant, Isaac, there was a famine in his day. And God goes to Isaac and says, go to the, go to Gerar, the land of the Philistines, but don't go down into Egypt. He says, if you go to Gerar, I'll be with you. I'll provide for you. I'm paraphrasing here, but he's like, I will bless you. I'll be with you. I'll make sure you're taken care of. Just don't go down into Egypt. Now, why do you say that? Because when you come back from Egypt, you always bring baggage with you, my friends. Now, look, is it bad to sojourn to a certain area in order to accumulate resources and help you pay the bills? You know, how do we apply that today? Well, you know, it's not bad to sojourn and get a second job. Right. It's not bad to sojourn and start working graveyard shift if you have to. But it's a sojourn. It's just a short trip. Okay. Maybe you got to pay the bills. Maybe, you know, you got some some debt you got to pay off or something like that. And maybe it's not wrong to sojourn for a season by getting a second job, working graveyard shift, you know, sacrificing a little and living below your means in order to, you know, kind of get back on track and pay your bills and pay off your debts. A sojourn for just a small season. But you know what? As long as that sojourning doesn't take you out of Bethel. Right. It's okay to sojourn and and do all those things as long as it doesn't take you out of the house of God. That's the lesson that we can learn from this. Look, you can't control whether there's going to be a famine or there's going to be, you know, prices are going up on gas and inflation and all these things. We can't control those things. But what we can control is where we sojourn in order to provide for our families. Okay. And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wants us to stay in Bethel in the house of God in his will. And it's not as well for us to go into Egypt for the sake of compromising or providing for our families, and so on and so forth. And so that was a bad idea, Abraham, because, yeah, you might have gotten cattle, you might have gotten resources. I mean, he was a very rich man when he came out of Egypt. He had a lot of money. The problem was he brought back Hagar. Okay. But that's not the only issue. Go to Genesis chapter 16, if you would. So he left Egypt with baggage, and I don't mean to call Hagar baggage, but that's basically what she is. Okay. That's what she is. She's an Egyptian who, for some reason, you know, they picked up there and, you know, she's not a believer. And so, and a great sin was committed there. But how about this? You know, when he went into Egypt, he brought with him his nephew Lot. And when he went to Egypt, or when he went into Bethel first, he went with him, he took Lot with him, but then he also took him to Egypt. Now, as I mentioned in Genesis chapter 13, when they came out of Egypt and went back into Bethel, Abraham is just like renewed. He's kind of recommitted himself to the Lord again. He's setting up the altar. He's got his tabernacle. He's in Bethel. He's serving God, but guess what? Lot didn't bounce back spiritually the way Abraham did. Why? Because Lot was his nephew. Maybe he wasn't as spiritual as Abraham. And so what did Abraham do? By going into Egypt, he developed an appetite for the world in Lot. You say, well, how do you know? Well, look at Genesis chapter, what did I have you turn to? 13? Go to 13. Sorry. Not 16. 16 is Hagar. Go to Genesis chapter 13. It says here in verse number one of Genesis chapter 13, Abraham, Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with him into the South. And Abraham was very rich in cattle and silver and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Haai, unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. And there Abraham called on the Lord. Now look at verse number nine. Of course, now Lot is also being, you know, being wealthy. He has conflict with Abraham. And they're kind of fighting, their cattle are fighting, the cattlemen are fighting together, their employees. It says in verse number nine, is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. So Abraham's being the bigger man. He's saying, look, we can't dwell in the same land together. You choose where you want to dwell and I'll get the exact opposite. Okay. You have first dibs on wherever you want to go. Verse 10, and Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord liked the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. And Lot chose them all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves one from the other. So what happened? You know, Lot obviously developed an appetite for Egypt because when it came to choosing where to dwell, he chose the land that reminded him the most of what? Egypt. And it says, you know, like the garden of the Lord, but he doesn't know what the garden of the Lord looks like. He thinks the garden of the Lord is like Egypt. Like for example, when you go to the world, it's like, what did the garden of Eden look like? They're always going to give you some worldly, you know, depiction of what the garden of Eden looks like. So this guy's worldly. He's developed an appetite for Egypt, which caused him eventually to dwell in the plains of Jordan. And then what happened then? He pitched his tent towards Sodom. And then eventually what? He lived in Sodom. Okay. And then of course we know what happened with that. Go to Genesis chapter 41. Now what's the lesson that we can learn there? You know, when you decide to go to the world to get out of Bethel, because you need to provide for your family, cause there's a famine in the land. Just know this, when you come back, you may be able to bounce back, but your children may not. You know, Lot wasn't his son, it was his nephew, but let's apply it to our children. You may be able to bounce back and get back into the house of God and get back into the soul and get back to reading your Bible and doing that, which is pleasing unto the Lord. But guess what? Your children may not be able to do that because they're not spiritually mature enough to withstand the temptations of this world. And when they're young, they're impressionable. When they become teenagers, they're still impressionable. And you know what? If you develop those appetites within them, they're going to still desire Egypt. And so yeah, Lot, great. You're rich. Great. Now you have cattle. Great. Now you have silver. But at the expense of what? Of losing Lot. At the expense of what? Now having this adulterous relationship with Hagar, was the sacrifice really worth it? He should have just stayed where God told him to stay and just dependent on the Lord to provide for him during the times of famine. Like, well, you know, how do we know that God was going to provide? Because consistently throughout the Bible, God has always provided for his people, even in times of famine. That's why, you know, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Which is why he told Isaac, don't go to Egypt. You can stay in Gerar. I'll be with you in Gerar, implying that if you were to go to Egypt, he's not going to be with him. Okay. And so very important lesson there that when there's a time of scarcity in your family, when you feel you're unable to provide, you know, it's okay to sojourn and sacrifice a little bit, as long as it doesn't take you out of Bethel. And when you're tempted to go out of Bethel to go into Egypt, just remember the sacrifices that you're making. You better count the cost because you might lose your children. You better count the cost because you might lose the spiritual aptitude of your wife. You might, you want to count the cost because you might lose your future. I mean, the future with Hagar was grievous. Okay. And so this is what we can learn from the famine in the days of Abraham. And he's not the only one. I mean, in the book of Ruth, for example, you have a story of a man of Bethlehem, Judah, who went out of his homeland and he went into Moab, guess what, to sojourn there during a time of famine. So he, he took his whole family to Moab, which is always obviously a picture of the world, to sojourn there because there was a famine. He said, what happened? He ended up dying there. He died there and so did his sons. He left his, his wife, a widow and his daughter-in-law widow. And of course, everything works together for good to them to love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Let me just say this, you know, Ruth's mother-in-law, she called herself Mara when she came back home, which means bitter. You know what happens when you go to Moab in a time of famine, you don't depend on God, you become bitter. You may be able to come out of it and God can work all things together for good and God can provide for you later on. And he can, you know, do things in your life and, and, and reconstruct things and kind of restore that which the locust has eaten. Right. But at the end of the day, you're going to be a Mara. Okay. Not a good idea. He ended up dying in a foreign land. His sons ended up dying. He left his wife, a widow. And luckily because Ruth, you know, was converted to the true God of the Bible, you know, she ended up being blessed because she married Boaz and ended up becoming a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. And so we see that taking place in the Old Testament, let us learn from that. Okay. That if you're suffering right now, if there's a scarcity in your home, if you feel like you're struggling to pay the bills, if you're suffering some form of famine, right, in your life, you need to make decisions based off of whether it's going to take you out of Bethel or not. Okay. Now you're in Genesis, chapter 41. Let's talk about the famine in Egypt and Joseph. Okay. Of course, this is long after Abraham and in Genesis 41, let me just give you a synopsis of Joseph here. Probably one of the best stories in the Bible, to be honest with you and very dramatic. And, you know, it's very sad, obviously, but Joseph was a dreamer that God endowed with dreams and later on the ability to interpret dreams. And he had this dream that essentially his brothers, his mother and father would essentially bow down to him and essentially serve him. And his brothers were very jealous of him. They hated him because of this. And through a couple of events, they ended up selling him into slavery. Okay. They sold him into slavery. He ended up working for a man by the name of Potiphar in Egypt. And he excelled there. You know, God was with Joseph in a foreign land in Egypt. He wasn't there by his own will. He was there because he was forced to be there. And he's in Potiphar's house. He's being promoted there. I mean, he's basically living his best life. Okay. Being a success. He's excelling. But then, you know, Potiphar's wife is a whore. Okay. And she lays her eyes on Joseph and she wants to lay with him. And she was very persistent to the point where she grabbed him and he just like ran out of that. He fled fornication adultery. Right. And he left his coat in her hand and she was so embarrassed of the whole situation that she essentially called rape. Okay. So they took Joseph. They obviously didn't believe his testimony and threw him in prison. So he's wrongfully accused. He's in prison wrongfully, but even in prison, he's succeeding. He's excelling. He's one of the best inmates, I guess you could say, you know, I mean, I don't know what you got to do to like be the best in prison, but he's like an outstanding inmate. Okay. God is with him. And, you know, there's two people in that prison who were working for Pharaoh. You have the baker and then you have the cup bearer and both of them are in prison for different reasons. And they both have these dreams. And I'm not going to go into what they were dreaming about, but one dream for the cup bearer was so that he can be reinstated as the Pharaoh's cup bearer. The other dream with the baker, the dream that he had was to essentially confirm that he was going to be beheaded. Okay. And it takes place, you know, Joseph ends up interpreting those dreams. It actually takes place and he tells the cup bearer, hey, when you go back to Pharaoh, don't forget me. Tell him that I can interpret dreams. You know, tell him that I have this ability. Don't forget me, man. You know, he's like, I'm not going to forget you. And guess what? He forgot him. You know, he just like going back to bearing, you know, bearing the cup and squeezing the grapes into the cup. So then, you know, obviously this is all God's providence. These dreams are from God. So what God does instead is that he gives Pharaoh night terrors, these nightmares, and he's unable to interpret what's taking place in these nightmares that he's frequently having. So the cup bearer remembers, oh man, there's a guy that I knew that can interpret dreams. So they call Joseph and Joseph is able to interpret the dreams. Look at verse number 25 of Genesis 41. He says, and Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh is one. God had showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kind are seven years and the seven good are seven years. The dream is one. The seven thin and ill-favored kind that came up after them are seven years and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. So he basically explains these dreams that you're having is prophetic. It's from God to let you know that you're going to have seven good years of plenty. And I have a lot of resources. The crops are going to do well. It's just going to be an abundance of resources for seven years. But then seven years thereafter, it's going to be a time of famine. So then this allows Joseph to kind of step in and say, this is what you need to do in order to prepare for those seven years of famine, which eventually gets him promoted. And he becomes essentially the vice Pharaoh of Egypt. And then he's able to, you know, be a little petty with his brothers for what they did to him later on, which is great. You know, I enjoy that part of the story. You know what I mean? I'm like, get him, Joseph, you know, and he's just like, he's arresting them. He's making them go back all the way home and come back or whatever. And then eventually, you know, he obviously has matured a lot. And then towards the end of the story, you know, he tells his brothers, you know, he meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good to save much people alive. He basically said, you know, every bad thing that happened to me, the slavery, you guys hating me and being falsely accused and all these things. It works so I can get to this point so that I can save you guys. So I can save the entire nation of Israel and even Egypt as well. It's a wonderful story. Now go to 1 Timothy chapter six, if you would, 1 Timothy chapter number six. It's a great story here to show that, you know, God is obviously with Joseph during this time and he's blessing him and his hand is upon him. Now, what are some lessons that we can learn from this particular famine? Well, obviously on a practical level, you can immediately extrapolate the principle, the importance of saving, right? Preparing for that rainy day or preparing for that time of scarcity as they did. But let me say this, more important than that, because I don't think I need to teach that because I think a lot of people are preppers. You know, I don't think a lot of people need to be taught to be preppers. They're just so fearful. They just prep every, I mean, I'm sure some people's houses, their floorboards are just filled with canned goods and all the types of stuff, preparing for the tribulation, you know, because they don't want to starve or whatever. But let me say this more important than that, and this is going to sound kind of funny, but just bear with me here. It's more important to save money than to save money. Let me say that again. It's actually more important to save money than to save money. You said you're saying the same thing. Okay. Well, look at 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Look at verse 19. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. They meaning the resources. Now, just as Joseph was laying up in store the physical resources for seven years to prepare for that famine, God in like manner says, you need to lay up and store a spiritual foundation. How? Well, do good with your resources, be rich in good works, be ready to distribute, and be willing to communicate. What is willing to communicate? To give. You say, well, so what am I supposed to do in the time of famine, Pastor Mejia? Be generous, generous with others. Or even prior to the famine taking place, be generous with others. Be ready to distribute. Instead of being rich in finances and canned goods and, you know, having all types of silver and gold under the floorboards or whatever, or having crisp hundreds under your bed or something, you know, instead of saving money, what you need to do is actually use that money so they can inherit eternal life. Save money. You're sending money up ahead. And what does that do? Well, when the time comes when there is a famine, God will provide for you. Why? Because you're going to reap what you've sown, my friends. And far more important than physical resources, silver and gold and food. Not saying that's not important. It's a far greater and wiser investment to actually distribute those resources that God has given to you so that you're essentially confirming that God's going to provide for you in the long run. So when the times of famine does come, you know, instead of depending on your wisdom and your ability to save up, you're depending on God's hand to provide for you. Because the truth of the matter is someone can come and just steal all your money or your food can spoil, something can happen and God just does away with it. You know, that's not, we can't really depend on that. You know, the Bible talks about money having wings. You know, they say Red Bull gives you wings, but you know what? Money actually is the one who actually has wings because as soon it goes into your pocket it just like flies away. We live in a world where moth and rust doth corrupt, the Bible says, and where thieves break through and steal. You know, and you can save up all the money you want and save up all the resources you have, but you can't prepare for that medical issue that you're going to have five years down the road and the medical expenses and the bills for that. You can't prepare for the car accident you're going to have. You can't prepare for some health issue that you're going to experience in the future that might actually exhaust all your resources in your bank account, all your savings. So what do I do then? Do what God told you to do and actually save, like give your money eternal life. Right? By distributing, investing in the work of God, investing in others, being generous to others, even if you don't have much, be a blessing to others because you're going to reap what you sow later on. Okay, take these seven years of plenty that you're experiencing to actually distribute and be a blessing so that when the seven years of famine come, those people who are going to be prospering during that time can remember you. Maybe they're not like the cupbearer, you know what I mean? Hopefully they're not like the cupbearer and actually remember who you are and repay you for the good that you've done unto them but even if they don't, folks, God will provide for you. Okay and one common denominator that I would just want you to pay attention to throughout this entire sermon is that throughout every single famine, man-made, natural disaster, you know, God's judgment, God's people are always provided for. They're always provided for and one thing that upsets me was when people, they kind of group themselves with the world. They think that God's going to treat them the way God treats the world and maybe they do that because of the fact that they're not necessarily living a godly life or they're not exercising biblical principles but folks, if you're living in accordance to God's word, if you're serving God, if you're serving your family, you have nothing to worry about. It can be the worst famine in all of history and you will be provided for and in fact, one of the worst famines that the world's going to experience is the tribulation. There's going to be famines and pestilence, not just famines, pestilences, death on a massive scale and even then, God says he'll provide for you. Okay and so what's the lesson that we can learn from Joseph and the famine in Egypt? What we can learn is this, you know, let's be ready to distribute when we have plenty, when there's a bountiful amount, be a blessing to someone else. You hear that there's someone in need in our church of some sort of maybe a resource or whatever it may be, bless them with it. Go without so you can bless them because you're going to need that blessing in the long run. Instead of just, you know, stockpiling and laying up in store your silver and your gold and your bitcoin or whatever, why don't you actually use that to actually invest in spiritual matters. Okay go to 1st Kings chapter 17, Proverbs 23 verse 5 says, Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. The Bible says and again I'm not saying don't be wise with your money and just you know always be at a deficit and you're always in the red and you're not saving up. The point that I'm trying to make here is that it's more important to save money than to save money. Okay and if you're saving money physically you're laying up in store that's okay but as long as you make the priority to actually invest those resources in the work of God in another brother or sister in Christ. The Bible says be willing to do good to all men but especially those of the household of faith. Okay so we talked about the famine in Abraham's day we talked about the famine in Joseph's day in Egypt but there's also famines in Israel that were a result of just really wicked leaders. Okay and this is very common throughout the Bible. All right for example you know you had the famine during David's administration and David was a godly man obviously he had his flaws and you know he murdered committed adultery I mean he did a lot of bad stuff but in general as far as like his you know his profile the Bible paints him in a very good picture you know I mean he's one of the greatest pictures of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament right. He was a great leader overall in general but even throughout his time there was a famine in the land and the Bible says you don't have to turn there in second sandwich chapter 21 verse number one it says there was a famine in the days of David three years year after year and David inquired of the Lord. Now put yourself in David's sandals you know if there's a famine and you're serving God and it's like a three-year famine after a while you start kind of wondering like okay what's going on am I not serving God am I not doing something right here what's going on okay am I being punished for the lack of resources I mean what am I being punished for is this my fault have I brought this on myself so David suffers this famine in Israel for three years he inquires the Lord and the Lord answered it is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites so what does he say he's like it's not your fault David but just remember this God is a God of justice he's a God of vengeance even if you have to strike vengeance after the person is long gone and dead so Saul because he was such a wicked person in the sense that he slew the Gibeonites God was going to punish Israel as a nation for the sins of leaders in times past even if the current leader was not wicked because he needs to recompense that evil you understand now we can apply this to today you know because our country is suffering and there's all types of crazy stuff happening inflation or whatever and obviously we can blame it on the current leader you know what I mean which is Biden we could ever blame it on um on governor Newsom who's passing all types of abominable laws he's an abomination himself he's a wicked piece of trash who could jump in the lake of fire but at the at the end of the day we've had the wicked leaders in times past too and you know what if you're thinking to yourself oh man why is this happening to America why why you know it's because of this leader it's because of Biden no it's probably because of past leaders the punishment for Biden sin has not yet come think about that for a minute I mean America's just catching up on the punishments from past abominations and sins America's paying for the 60s right 50s 60s and 70s that's what we're paying for at this moment unfortunately you know and the future is not looking bright either because our our present is not very bright obviously but just as a reminder folks that when you see these economic problems and gas prices and eggs and bacon and all these things just like oh man lord why are you judging us don't take the blame and say well it's my fault especially if you're serving God because obviously if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray right but the reality is you know unfortunately Bible believing Christians all across the states the United States of America they're not going to kumbaya together and get right with God a lot of compromising Christians out there okay who are depending on Egypt you know we obviously have to understand our country's suffering because of past leaders because of you know all of the the blood that's on the bush's hands or all the blood that's on the clinton's hands right all the blood of past leaders and and people who have gone to war to make money and all these things you know our country is suffering for that don't turn a blind eye to those things and think the United States is the greatest place on earth you know obviously by comparison it definitely is and I would definitely would not want to live anywhere else but America I don't want to live in communist China I don't want to live in India I don't even want to live in Guatemala where my where my parents are from like if someone were to say hey you know we got a house for you over there you want to move out there I'd be like nope I mean I know you see my skin color and I look Hispanic but folks I'm as American as the day is long I'll just be quite honest with you this is where I was born this is where I was raised and you know what this is where I want to reach people and obviously in comparison America is where God's hand is far greater than other countries but at the end of the day it doesn't mean that God's not going to judge this nation for the sins of past leaders where do I have you turn first kings chapter 16 you know you think of the fact that I have you turn first key where do I have you turn first king 17 you think of the ministry of Elijah where he caused it not to rain for three and a half years and there was a great famine in Samaria right why is that well because the current leader at that time was uh was Ahab who the Bible says did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him so he was so wicked that God said you know what Elijah just I'm going to give you the ability to make it stop raining and just cause a famine throughout the land because of this guy right over here okay and so yeah we're suffering for the crimes and the sins of past leaders but we're also suffering for the crimes and sins of our current leaders as well okay you know the Ahabs of this world the governor Newsom's of this world or whatever and you know people are dying during this time people are starving they're dying they're going without you say well you know what about God's people though well like I said God's people are always provided for okay look at first king chapter 17 and verse number eight and the word of the Lord came unto him saying arise referring to Elijah arise and get thee to Zarephthah which belonging to Zidane and dwell there and behold I have commanded a woman a widow woman there to sustain thee so he arose and went to Zarephthah 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 in a vessel that I may drink and she was going to fetch it he called to her and said bring me I pray thee a morsel bread of thy hand so he's like hey go give me a cup of water and while you're at it go make me some food too make me a sandwich this is a time of famine you know he's kind of asking like you know and Elijah is a man of great faith by the way yeah why because he's just believing what God said God's like I've commanded this woman to sustain you he's like all right he's like go get me water and bread and you know he's just not gonna ask whether hey did you talk to God or did God talk to you or anything like that verse 12 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 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 now that's a sad statement yeah okay but Elijah it just did not faze Elijah though Elijah said unto her fear not go and do as that as thou has said but make me thereof a little cake first he's like that's fine go and die but but do this first though go do it's an interesting plan you got going on there I like your meal plan for the week but start off with making me food first though okay I like this man but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy son because so put me first and then you know then you can feed you guys and you can do your little thing you got going on there whatever your last meal for thus saith the Lord God of Israel the barrel of meal shall not waste neither shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth what is he saying he's trying to tell her look provide for me first put me first and you last you know what happens God will provide for you until the rain comes again what he's saying God will miraculously provide for your needs until the resources abound once again and the essential statement there is that God's always going to provide because I've not seen the righteous forsaken or seed begging bread and I don't see Abraham begging for this either right was he begging her please I'm so high I'm a prophet he's like go make me a cake go give me a cup of water and do it for me first he's not begging why because he knows that God will provide for him that's why and the lesson that we can learn there well there's a couple lessons we can learn there first and foremost is that we see here that it's in a woman's nature to worry right even though God had already commanded her so if God came to you and commanded you hey do this and you still question it's because you're worried you're you're lacking faith right but it is in a woman's nature to worry it's just like well what are we gonna do I only have such so little and what are there's a famine and all these and now I gotta make a cake for the prophet and it's not gonna be enough and it's just like their mind begins to spiral out of control because it is in a woman's nature to freak out okay now it is in a man's nature first and foremost to just not freak out sometimes and just be like well just make me a sandwich anyways okay and you know that's good but at the same time you know men we need to provide our wives security though you know what I mean now they're not married so Elijah does not have the responsibility however we as husbands do have the responsibility to make sure their wives are secure okay and let them know hey we're never gonna go without yeah number one because I'm walking with God God's hand is on our family and I'm serving the Lord and you know what Bible says he'll never leave us nor forsake us so we're gonna make it through this and number two I'll just get a second job if I have to you will never go without you'll never even go without your little Starbucks runs either you'll know you never go without your Starbucks runs you'll never go without whatever it is that you need or want I will always provide for you okay and then when you walk away you're like dang I'm gonna do this all right you know it's just like all right I gotta figure something out that was a stupid thing that I just said you know I bit off more than I could chew there the important thing is that we provide security though okay and let them know everything's gonna be okay and look the main thing is not because you got character you have integrity you're a hard worker it's because you're walking with God gotta communicate the fact and you by the way you better be walking with God okay you can fake that other thing but do not fake the walk with God though that has to be legitimate okay and you get on your knees and you say Lord I'm expecting the rent to be paid this month I'm expecting food on the table every single day this week and I'm still gonna go so I'm gonna take my family to church we're gonna read the bible we're gonna keep serving you and I'm just expecting for you to have this in Jesus name amen how are you gonna talk because we're asking God for things that he already wants to give to us and if you're wondering why I can't talk to God like that well it's because you're faithless that's why because you don't believe that God can provide for you in times of scarcity and famine but you know be like Elijah make me my sandwich everything's gonna be okay God's gonna provide oil he's gonna provide meal he's gonna provide for us just go make me my sandwich and everything's gonna be okay okay it says in verse 15 and she went and did according to the saying of Elijah and said and he and her house did eat many days and the barrel of meal wasted not neither the crews of oil fail according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah go to second kings chapter six second kings chapter six if you would so we see that God provided for the widow woman even in a time of famine and you know what if God doesn't provide for you through a second job well he will not allow the oil to to waste the meal to waste he'll provide for you in a miraculous way okay just obey God though obey what he's told you to do and he will provide for you okay have faith and let me just say this is that I don't think anybody in here has gone without yeah to this point at least I don't know no one's out there gathering sticks or whatever to eat one meal that you may die or something I'm gathering a couple quarters to go eat my last chicken sandwich and then we're gonna go die or something you're probably not gonna get to that point yeah okay you may feel like that when if the rent's not being paid and you have these bills or whatever but at that point you need to kind of take inventory or spiritual life and say man are we serving God we gotta make because here's the thing there there is a stipulation to God's blessing in his provision and that is that you have to serve him he's not gonna provide for his children if his children are not dwelling in his house right but if you are under his wing you're serving him to the best of your capacity you're witnessing to people you are leading you're loving your wife from Christ love the church you're raising your children and they're nurturing the admonition of the Lord you're putting God first then you know what you have nothing to worry about God will always provide he owns the cattle and the thousand hill all the silver and gold in the world he's the richest man that we know okay just keep serving him and he'll provide for you now here's the interesting thing is that during this time of famine with Elijah people are suffering just like any other famine but you know we see throughout this story we're not going to go through the entire thing that God provided for each person in a miraculous way or sometimes just through people okay you think of the seven thousand prophets who did not bow their knee to Baal these are the same ones who are also hiding in the cave though by the way just let you know that all right you know they're hiding in the cave but they're being provided for one of the magistrates which is Obadiah he's bringing them bread and water you know it's not a miraculous thing but because they chose to hide he's like I'll still feed you because you didn't bow your knee to Baal but it's going to be through just this regular natural means which is another person okay who's just going to bring you bread and water but God provided for Elijah who's willing to stand up for the word of God and preach the word of God and do as God told them in a miraculous way because not just through the barrel of oil the cruise of oil and the barrel of meal but also through the raven who brought him food right and I think maybe you know that food that he brought him was probably good because I don't think God provides you know nasty food the manna was I'm sure was good sure tasted good you know because God gave us taste buds my friend and that's why people enjoy eating certain foods because they actually enjoy what they eat right so I'm sure that meat that was in the raven's mouth was actually pretty good he probably cooked it somewhere and or he took it from someone who was cooking and he brought it to him or something you know because God what does he do you know he takes uh from he takes from the wicked the the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the for the righteous and then he also provided for the widow as well you understand so we see that he's done it through miraculous means now let's look at another famine here now this in particular this famine is a man made famine okay and when I say man-made famine obviously we're thinking of these wars that took place in times past where they would impede resources from getting to the people in order to you know do like a mass genocide but in the bible the most frequent form of like a man-made famine is when a nation was taking over another nation and they would besiege the city okay and so instead of fighting they would just starve out the people because then resources weren't allowed to go in and eventually they would just surrender and then they can uh conquer them okay now look at second kings chapter 6 verse 24 this took place during elijah's ministry not to be mistaken with elijah verse 24 says and it came to pass after this that ben hadad king of syria gathered all his hosts and went up and besieged samaria and there was a great famine in samaria and behold they besieged it listen to this until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of doves dung for five pieces of silver now i can kind of see like the donkey's head maybe that's pretty you know some of you animal uh carnivore eaters made like like that or something like that but you know i don't want to eat doves crap though that means that's like the only thing available and i was thinking myself you know like why why not go for the dove you know what i mean why you gotta eat the dog the doves there eat the dove you know it got away yeah but we see here that this is really bad inflation really bad famine and they're just grasping at whatever's there they're killing off the donkeys and chopping off the heads and just kind of selling that so they can eat whatever they can off of that it's really bad okay you know it's not like we have today i mean we're like eggs are really expensive bacon's really expensive they they had it less worse than we did right no i'm just kidding you know they're this is obviously really really bad and even to the point where cannibalism was taking place actually okay cannibal people were eating their children okay during this time so you can see how severe this is go to chapter seven if you would now one thing you notice when you actually read the story is that elijah's cool he's not like starving he's not struggling he's not complaining and the bible doesn't tell us explicitly but it would indicate based upon other stories that he's probably being taken care of look at verse number 10 or i'm sorry verse number one of second kings chapter seven it says then elijah said hear ye the word of the lord thus saith the lord tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of samaria then the lord on whose hand the king lean answered the man of god and said behold if the lord will make windows of heaven might this thing be and he said behold thou shall see it with thine eyes but shall not eat thereof now here's something we can learn from this particular famine god can change the economy in a twinkling of an eye if you wanted to you're like well not this economy okay you're like the guy in verse number two you're like the guy who's just like well yeah you really think that god's going to open up the windows of heaven well according to the bible if you tithe he will how about that but this teaches us that things can change drastically overnight sometimes sometimes they don't sometimes they remain the same for seven years but there are instances where things just turn around you know overnight and god begins to provide and the lesson that we can learn is this don't have this doom and gloom attitude about the christian life where it's just like you're in this difficult spot you're in this difficult situation you just think you're always going to be there because god can turn it around just like that where one moment you're eating doves doves dung you're eating bird crap you're eating the eyeballs out of a donkey's head and then the next day you're you're feasting because he can change things overnight my friends and we need to have the attitude of elisha and not have the attitude of this guy who leaned on the hand of the king and be like well how explain to me you know using statistics and how the economy's going how is that going to happen well you know what this world will continue to suffer in hunger physically and even spiritually but because we have the bread of life who not only feeds us spiritually but even feeds us physically we're going to be fine he can turn things around for us overnight i mean i've heard testimonies in times past where people are struggling all of a sudden to get a raise at their job you know they're it's just like oh man the rent went up what are we going to do we're gonna have to move we're gonna have to take off we're gonna have and it's just like god provides for them it's like okay never mind and what's funny is that sometimes christians they overreact right they overreact with the problem but when the solution comes and god provides for them they don't overreact over the blessing it's like oh that was close it's like why don't you do a backflip like the way you're doing front flips when the the way you're like spazzing out when the trial's there you know why don't you actually make a big deal out of god's provision in his blessing the way you're making a big deal when he wasn't supposedly providing for you but this is the lesson we can learn here and you know elijah is prophesying and for lack of i don't have enough time to actually go through the whole story it's a great story though you have to go back and read it because the way he does it is there's a bunch of lepers outside of the city because they're cast now they're they're you know they're lepers and one of them's just like why are we going to stay here till we die he's like if we go to the samarian camp or we go to the syrian camp they're going to kill us but i mean we're going to die anyways he goes if we go in there they're going to cast us out let's just do something so what they decide to do is go into the syrian camp but what they don't know is that god sent this delusion amongst the syrian camp that caused them to think that there's a huge army of soldiers coming with horses and they ran away and they left everything they left their food their silver their gold their resources just tons of resources there so these lepers are coming in you know they're just like and they see all this meat all this food and they start feasting then they're putting gold in their pockets and stuff and they're just like man we came up big time i mean things change for them overnight but you know like what they have to do why sit we here till we die let's go do something about it and then one of them a noble leper said you know what we're doing is not right he said because we're feasting here and there's people that are starving in the city and he says we need to bring this these tidings to the city so that they can have food as well and they can be provided for and obviously that's a great picture of salvation and a soul winner is that you know we come across this great treasure of eternal life through jesus christ where we're fed spiritually you know we have the silver and gold which is the word of god and if we just sit there but don't tell anybody else about it we do not well it's important we go back to the city go proclaim the gospel of jesus christ to others so they also can be filled we can fill the stomachs of the famished spiritually famished right and so great principle there the fact that god will provide for you no matter what go to chapter eight of first kings chapter eight of first kings and then we're going to go to psalm 33 during elijah's time you know what we learned there is that god can change things overnight so you know if you're going through a tough time right now folks listen to me if you're going through a tough time don't make any hasty decisions do not make a hasty decision when you're going through a tough time that's the worst time to make a big decision where it's just like i'm going to move to south africa because it's going hard for me right now it's just like now's not the time sleep on that for a while then you realize you would hate to move to south africa later on don't make some hasty decision and sometimes christians think the time to make a decision is when everything is at its peak your anger your anxiety your emotions everything's just going back it's like no we gotta do something now like why why just wait yeah just wait it's never good to make a hasty decision when you're freaking out okay and and men don't let your wives make that decision for you no we gotta do something you gotta do it it's just like all right all right what are we gonna do what are we gonna do just chill out and say you know what go make me that sandwich go give me that cup of water just remind me of the elijah story you know and everything's gonna be okay everything's gonna be okay don't make a hasty decision sleep on it and recognize god can turn things around overnight it happens all the time stop putting resources first stop putting money first stop putting possessions first stop putting worry and care and fear first which is something that christians do all the time for some reason when you're confronted with the famine with a difficult time a difficult situation and you know sometimes we need a famine to build character amen to teach us how to you know uh use our finance as well or teach us how to live below our means you know god's trying to teach us some sort of lesson he wants to humble us you know we need that okay so it's not an indicator that we got to go somewhere or we got to get out of church or get three jobs where we're not going to church or you know just pray about it depend on god take inventory not of the resources that you have in your bank but of the your spiritual resources look at first kings eight verse 37 it says if there be a in the land famine verse 37 if there be pestilence blasting mildew locusts or if there be a caterpillar if their enemy besieged them in the land of their city whatsoever plague whatsoever sickness there be what prayer and supplication so ever be made by any man or by all thy people israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands toward this house then here thou in heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and do and give to every man according to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only know is the hearts of all the children of men go to go with me to psalm 33 psalm 33 again you know we're going to experience famines in this world i mean put it this way the united states of america is actually going to experience the worst famine and i'm not even talking about the tribulation talk about revelation 18 when babylon is destroyed god actually destroys it with also with famine and some famines are meant to just be without remedy okay like babylon okay look at psalm 33 verse 18 look at some promises real quick of what god will do for us when we're in a time of famine psalm 33 verse 18 says behold the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine the bible says turn with me if you would to psalm 37 psalm 37 and then we're going to go to deuteronomy chapter 8 and that'll be the last verse psalm 37 and verse 19 says they shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied you know don't just breeze over those passages these are true statements my friend this is god's word he says you will be look satisfied means like that was good like i enjoyed that meal that was tasty i am satiated i am satisfied and god says that he will even in the days of famine do that for his people go to deuteronomy chapter 8 if you would deuteronomy chapter 8 i'm going to read you from romans chapter 8 verse 35 it says who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword look at deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse number 2 now this is the last passage that we're going to go to and this is a great passage as i was mentioning before to teach us why when famines take place it's not an indicator for us to go anywhere or to make some hasted decision this is often what we need to do look at deuteronomy 8 verse 2 and thou shall remember all the way which the lord that god led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna which thou knowest not neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the lord does man live what is he saying you know sometimes god allows a nation to suffer hunger he allows his people to suffer a little hunger why to kind of remind you hey the most important thing is god's word the most important thing are the spiritual things the most important thing is not your possessions it's your family the most important thing is not much how much money you have in the bank it's the fact you have a good relationship with your spouse it's not how much money you have in the bank but how well you're doing with your children it's not how much money you have in the bank it's how many souls you've won this year it's not how much resources or or canned goods you have stored up what is it it's how much you're serving god and to recognize it's far more important that you live spiritually by reading god's word than trying to accumulate resources because you're afraid of what's going to happen and i've learned the people who walk with god the people who read the bible are the ones who are the least fearful of the tribulations of this world because they have a spiritual perspective they understand what god's word says and don't treat this as some old book well that word then it's not going to work now this is a timeless book my friends this is god's word it's quick and powerful it still applies to us today the promises are still there and if there's anyone in this room who doubts that you're just like that guy under elisha's ministry and you know what you go ahead and keep questioning you go ahead and keep reasoning away oh how's god going to provide for us when witnesses have okay keep reasoning that away i'm just going to allow the raven to feed me i'm going to go look for the widow woman to feed me i'm going to go ahead and just do what god tells me to do and if god has to drop down manna from heaven i know that he will because god i've not seen the righteous forsaken nor received bacon bread okay and so you know this sermon is necessary because i know there are times when when god's people they they get kind of fearful you know a little scared a little fearful a little worried you know and let me say this i didn't mention this in the sermon but shut off the the youtube where you know they're fear-mongering and all that stop looking at all those posts well then how am i going to know well that's the thing you shouldn't know because you know he's not going to change anything it just makes you a grump a fearful you know grump of a christian makes you faithless makes you fearful makes you worried makes you anxious that's why you're staying up late at night looking at all the newsfeed and what's going to happen and this is what's taking place and prepare for this in 2023 this is what's going to happen and you heard about the stoves they're trying to take away our stoves take it i don't care take everything if you want take whatever you want because at the end of the day god can give me a new stove there's nothing that this world can take away from me that god cannot provide an abundance there on later on yeah fact yeah but we're not talking about that though i'm talking about what if the laws who cares what the laws say who gives a rip god's people thrived in famines they thrived because they walked with him they served him they preached his word and and you know what here we are thousands of years later talking about their faith what great faith they have you know what if the lord does not come in our lifetime may the next generation look at our faith may your children your great-grandchildren be able to look at your faith and say i remember my great-grandfather my great-grandmother they had a lot of faith in god because they suffered a lot through a lot of inflation and need and you know what they just stayed put in bethel they stayed in the house of god they stayed serving him because they believe the bible so instead of storing up treasures to lay up for your descendants store up uh faith for your descendants leave faith for your descendants let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and god i pray that you'd help us lord as your people we have the propensity to grow fearful in times of of scarcity and famine and inflation and you know especially when you have the whole entire country pointing at california and blaming us or or uh kind of highlighting how bad it is here and everything lord doesn't matter where we're at because at the end of the day if we're serving you you know we can be in the worst part of the world and still thrive uh israel was in the worst part of the world at their at their time in egypt but yet you helped them to dwell in the land of goshen who and they were not affected of the plagues they were not affected of the judgment they thrived and you blessed them lord and i pray that you'd help us to have that perspective that lord as we as long as we remain in goshen will be will be fine and i pray that you help us to increase our faith in you as we read your word as we walk with you as we pray and we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen please turn your song books to song number 106 song number 106 as our last song this morning abide with me song number 106 all together nice and strong and loud on that first verse abide with me fast flows deep in time the darkness deepens lord with me abide when other helpers fill and comfort's flee help of the helpless abide with me swift to its close heads out lies little day earth's joys grow dim its glories pass away change and decay in all around i see oh bow through changes not abide with me i need thy presence what but thy grace can for the tempters bow so my guide and stake and me through cloud and sunshine trust me for my closing eyes shine through the gloom point me to the skies hands morning breaks and earth's green shadows flee in life in death oh lord abide with me amen wonderful singing you are dismissed so you