When The Recession Reaches Your House,
Part 1
Sermon
Notes: July 19, 2009
1 Kings 17:8-16 NRSV
8Then
the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath,
which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to
feed you.” 10So he set out
and went to Zarephath. When he came to
the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and
said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he
called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the LORD your
God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little
oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and
prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be
afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and
bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the LORD the God of
Israel: The jar of meal will not be
emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain
on the earth.” 15She went and
did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many
days. 16The jar of meal was
not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD
that he spoke by Elijah.
A. Introduction
1.
The Difference Between Prosperity, Recession and a Depression
a.
A comic defined the difference between Prosperity, Recession and a Depression
as follows: “During times of prosperity
you are annoyed because the dog and cat won’t eat the expensive pet food you
buy for them. In a recession you are
delighted that the dog and cat won’t eat the expensive food. You hope they stay finicky until times are
better. In a depression you begin to
look at the dog and cat as food!”
b.
c.
All I know is that some people are really struggling. Every week at our Church we hear about and
pray for someone’s son who needs a job or for a senior adult whose retirement
plan has been devastated by the losses in the Stock Market. Even retirees who still have a steady
retirement income remind me what inflation has done to their fixed
incomes. It is a strange, confusing and
difficult situation. Stocks are down,
home prices are down and cars are not selling.
Companies are failing. Yet the
price of food, electricity and gasoline still remain high. We have Inflation and Depression, which means
the current economic mess could be called a Deflation! And that's how a lot of folks feel. So today’s message is a word of cheer to all
those people who know what it is to have hard times hit their house.
A. Introduction…
continued
2.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8-16
a. Our scripture lesson for today is
about a widowed woman who knew all about hard times. She was a mother of a child and thus probably
a young widow. This woman was out by the
town gate gathering sticks for a cooking fire.
She then gets “panhandled” by the prophet Elijah. First he asks her to get him some water. No problem, it’s free. Then Elijah asks her for some food, a piece
of bread. This is more than she can
handle. All she has left in her house is
a handful of flour and a little cooking oil.
She has only one meal left! After
that she and her son have nothing to eat.
The country is in the midst of a drought and famine. Life appears hopeless to this widow, and
death is a real possibility.
b.
Elijah, however, knows that God is good.
There is hope and a way out even for the hard times. So Elijah says, “Don’t
be afraid. Go home and do as you have
said. But first make a small cake of
bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for
yourself and your son. For this is what
the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and
the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the
land.’” (1 Kings
17:13-14 NIV) The widow did as Elijah said. “So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman
and her family. For the jar of flour was
not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the
LORD spoken by Elijah.” (1 Kings 17:15-16 NIV)
B. Understand That Some People
Are Having Hard Times.
1.
Economic Statistics
a.
I recently read an internet article concerning poverty that contained
some economic statistics. According to the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 36.5 million Americans live below the
poverty level. The majority of these are
children. One sociologist estimates that
one of every three young families is only one paycheck away from
bankruptcy. The drop in the stock market
and the crash in the value of homes have hit many if not most in our country in
a substantial and negative way concerning their finances. One struggling man commented: “I used to live in the lap of luxury. Then luxury stood up!”
b.
It seems that everything but our homes cost more. The cost of food, gasoline and electricity
remains high. One expert said, “To put
the costs of things today into perspective you have to realize that it costs
more nowadays to buy a new car than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and
undertake three voyages to the
2.
Selling Eyeglasses the
a.
An elderly optician with dubious business practices was breaking in a
new man. He said, “After you put their
new glasses on them you say, ‘That will be $100.’ If the patient doesn’t flinch, you add, ‘For
the lenses.’ And if he still doesn’t
respond negatively say, ‘Each.’”
b.
Everything today is so expensive.
Everything seems to cost twice as much as it did five years ago. Today in this Church there are people who are
struggling to keep up with rising expenses.
C.
Don’t Give Up!
1.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings
17:8-16
a. What do you do when the Recession comes to
your house? The widow in our Old Testament
lesson wanted to give up. Before Elijah
encountered her she planned to fix a last meal and then make preparations for
her and her son to die.
b. You can’t get much more desperate or
depressed than that. Someone here may be
almost that desperate. Whether your
problem is financial, physical, emotional or spiritual, you need to hear
Elijah’s call to make plans for life and not death. Don’t give up.
2. Sir Henry Platt
a. On December 20, 1986, Sir Henry Platt, 100
years of age, died at his home in
b. However, to me his greatest achievement had
to do with his overcoming of physical disabilities. Sir Henry was an invalid as a child. He suffered from serious bone and joint
ailments. The medical science of the
time only made his condition worse. He
would be in pain all his life. Henry
Platt could have become bitter, felt sorry for himself, and given up. Instead, knowing the pain he himself endured,
he vowed to help others, and decided to become a medical doctor. He met much opposition in obtaining his
goal. He struggled through personal pain
and ignored the negative people who kept telling him he could never be a
surgeon let alone a physician. At an
early age Henry Platt learned one of the important secrets of life: Don’t give up. Turn your scars into stars!
3. Better Late Than Never! (Paul Harvey’s THE REST OF THE STORY, page 115)
a. Harland knew life’s heartaches and
pains. He was a person who tried and
tried and continually failed or had setbacks in life. When he was five years old his daddy
died. At fourteen he dropped out of
school. He tried being a farm hand, but
hated it. At sixteen he lied about his
age and joined the army. He did not like
that either. After his one-year
enlistment was up he tried to be a blacksmith but couldn’t cut it. Then he became a locomotive fireman and
really liked that job. At eighteen he
got married, and within months his wife was pregnant and the railroad fired
Harland. While he was job hunting his
young wife left him, and gave away all his possessions. She went to live with her parents and would
not let Harland see their little girl. In
desperation, he thought of snatching his little girl and running away. Instead he made amends with his wife and in a
short time they would be reunited.
b. The Great Depression came and Harland worked
various odd jobs for the railroad. He
tried to study law, but dropped out. He
tried selling insurance and tires. He
ran a ferryboat and ran a gas station.
And he failed at all of these.
Late in life he became chief cook and bottle washer at a little
restaurant down south. Then Harland
turned sixty-five and the postman brought him his first social security
check. This really bothered him. It was as if the government was telling him
his life was over and he was a loser.
The folks at the restaurant seemed to agree. “It’s time for you to retire.” They told him.
c. Harland was so upset and angry that he took
the $105 social security check and opened his own restaurant. He would feature southern fried chicken. And you know his trying finally paid
off. Colonel Harland Sanders became a
millionaire with his Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain! So don’t give up.
D. Conclusion
1. This week, I remind us:
a. Understand that some people are having hard
times.
b.
Don’t give up!
2. Next Sunday we will recall again that people
are having tough times, and then lift up the most important thing of all: Trust God!
(4)
When The Recession Reaches Your House
1. Understand that some people are having hard
times.
2. Don’t give up!
3. Trust God!
1 Kings
17:8-16 NRSV
8Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9“Go now to
Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow
there to feed you.”
10So he set out and went to Zarephath.
When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering
sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that
I may drink.”
11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a
morsel of bread in your hand.”
12But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a
handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a
couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son,
that we may eat it, and die.”
13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but
first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make
something for yourself and your son.
14For thus says the LORD the God of
15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her
household ate for many days.
16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail,
according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.