October 19th Sermon “Living With Less”
Sometimes having less is a wonderful gift from God. That is the lesson we learn from the destitute woman in II Kings 4:1-7. One day Elisha meets a woman with nothing. No husband, no income, no food, and no prospects for help. The prophet tells her to gather what little food she has and she returns with only one jar of oil and several empty jars from her neighbors. She begins to pour her oil into the empty jars and keeps pouring until they are full. Only then does the first jar run out. It is interesting that the woman only gets as much oil as she has empty jars. There is something about being empty and not having anything that moves the hand of God. Often, we will see God the most clearly when we cannot find the answers within ourselves. He will sometimes place us in empty seasons of life the so that we are dependant on him. In this message, we will learn some valuable lessons that we learn from the empty seasons of life.
Set List for October 19, 2008
Song Author Recording
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Doug & Cindy Mickan |
NA
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I Need Thee Every Hour
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Annie Sherwood Hawks |
Traditional Hymn
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Charlie Hall |
“Flying Into Daybreak” Charlie Hall
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This week Bro. Todd will be talking about “Living With Less”. Probably everyone who is reading this has gone through a time of need in their life. We don’t have a lot of music scheduled for this worship service, but the songs we do have are focusing on our need for God over everything else.
“Speak to My Heart” is a prayer asking God to do just that, speak. I chose this song for this service, because of the chorus. “You give me life and breath it flows from Your hands. You give me peace in my heart that I can’t understand. Lord You rescued my life from a debt I could never repay.” Even in our times of need, we should be reminded that God has truly given us so much. He has also promised to provide for our needs which leads to that peace in our hearts beyond all understanding. You can listen to a rough version of this song by clicking the link in the chart above.
“I Need Thee Every Hour” is a traditional hymn written by Annie Hawks. She wrote the verses at the age of 37 in 1872 while doing her housework. That day she felt a great sense of nearness to her God. She began to wonder how anyone could ever live without Him either in joy or pain. She sat down and wrote the words to the verses that where later put to music and widely distributed among churches. 16 years after writing the lyrics her husband passed away, and it was then that she realized the true power in the lyrics. Mrs. Hawk wrote, “I did not understand at first why this hymn had touched the great throbbing heart of humanity. It was not until long years after, when the shadow fell over my way, the shadow of a great loss, that I understood something of the comforting power in the words, which I had been permitted to give out to others in my hour of sweet serenity and peace.”
Our final song of the day is “All We Need” which I have talked about on this blog before. We love to sing the faster paced songs on Sundays, but I feel we often overlook the true meaning. This song is a declaration that our only need is our God. No matter what our situation, we should look to our God as our provider. Take time to listen to this song by clicking the link in the chart above.
I’m really looking forward to worshiping with you all Sunday. Take time to prepare your heart for a great time of worship.
Bro. Doug
in spirit and in truth 
The songs you picked are beautiful, and I think will really helpus as we talk about a really difficult subject. Thank you for being so sensitive to this! And thanks for everything you do.