Faith and a Jar of Oil

Today's message is one that has kind of been weighing on me heavily, because this is something I've been thinking about and praying about for a few weeks now. What's it worth? What's the kingdom of heaven, is the big question, big idea. What's the kingdom of heaven worth to you? What's the kingdom of heaven worth to you?

We think about life and liberty. It's 4th of July, so we're thinking about that already, right? I mean, we're thinking about life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness and those who had given their lives for freedom. I mean, this powerful thing called freedom that we are so excited to celebrate. If you're with us at church today, thank you.

Some of you are not here because you're part of festivities or whatever, and you're watching this later. But remember that the reason you are here enjoying a cookout, some barbecue and beach and all that kind of stuff is because somebody gave their lives so that you could have freedom. And we thank God for those people who gave their lives for freedom. That we have the ability to live and worship. We can come to church.

There's a lot of places you can't even come to church and worship. And to kind of set up the message of what it's worth worth. And those who gave their lives, I was thinking about my Uncle Kenny. My Uncle Kenny was in Vietnam. At 18 years old, a group of his friends in high school saw a cause that was bigger than them.

This cause of freedom. They were willing to sacrifice. And they all joined the Marine Corps. And right after boot camp, were sent off to the front lines of Vietnam. And my mother talks about my grandfather and the conversation they had right before he was going off the boot camp or when he was actually signing up.

And it was not a good talk because my grandfather served in World War II as a paramedic on the field and never came back the same person. In fact, he struggled with PTSD. Back then, they didn't even know what it was called. They had no idea. He was just, sometimes he would shut himself in his house all day.

And he was so nervous and just could not function well in general. And that was before they were able to diagnose those type of things. And he was just really concerned about his son and going off to war. And it was, boy, you don't know what you're doing. You don't know what you're getting into.

And his response was, Dad, I know what I'm getting into, and I know this is going to be a sacrifice, and it may even cost my life, but this cause is just bigger than us. The cause is just bigger than us. The cause of freedom. Do we believe in the idea of freedom is the question that we all need to ask today. And I'm not talking about a constitutional freedom.

I'm not talking about a governmental institution. I'm not talking about a political structure or a philosophy. I'm talking about the freedom that Jesus brought you and brought me by coming to set the captives free in this world. Amen? Well, that Jesus actually brought freedom to us because under that authority, the kingdom of God, and we make a big, weird, you know, hocus pocus in the sky thing about the kingdom of God.

Can I give you a simple definition for the kingdom of God? It's God's people under the authority of a king, and his name is Jesus, and it's under this canopy of freedom. Maximum freedom, as Andy Stanley says, maximum freedom is found under the canopy of God's authority. It's found under the canopy of God's authority, and I've said this over and over again. Our life's purpose is to extend the kingdom of God on earth.

You want to know your will, what God's will is for your life? It's always to extend the kingdom of God, no matter what you do, no matter your occupation, no matter your passion, no matter your gifting. It's always to extend the kingdom of God on this earth, to bring freedom to those who are captive, to bring freedom to this world. That's why the church exists. It's God's kingdom that's being ushered, and our Lord is coming back soon, and we've got to get busy extending the kingdom of God.

And my hope today is to renew that passion in you that you experienced when you first received freedom. Because there was a point when you gave your life to Christ, and he came in and transformed you, and you were excited, right? I remember when I first gave my life to Christ, I was so excited. I wanted everybody to know about Jesus. I wanted to go out and tell everybody, what do I have to do?

I was a little vigorous, I will say that. I had to mature a little bit, because I said some things and done some things that kind of scared people away. But regardless, I had this passion, and I had this desire to share the gospel with everybody. And over time, I think we lose that. I know I lose that from time to time, and God has been stirring that in my heart, because perhaps, you know, for whatever reason, maybe disappointment or discouragement, or just the whole world's going to hell in a handbasket, and everybody's heading this direction.

I'm just going to give up. I'm just going to give up, and that's it. And we tend to get discouraged, but how do we regain that? Do we remember? I love how Greg Laurie says it.

He says we need to remember, repent, and repeat. We remember where we once were, and when God saved us, and we repent because we've forgotten it, right? We've got away from where we were. We need to realign with the purposes of God, and the kingdom of God, and then we repeat what we once had, right? We just continue to go through that cycle because we need to stir up this thing called the Holy Spirit that is working inside of us, and the Holy Spirit is God and lives inside of us, and we need to stir up the gifts inside of us so that we can really truly make a difference in this world because God has a vision for His church.

God has a vision for our people, and today, weird thing, I'm sharing a little vision today on 4th of July, okay? About what the purpose of the church is to be, and what God has in store for Salt, and He's been really challenging me lately on this because I lost it. And sometimes you can lose it. When I first started Salt, I had this passion, this big vision that we're just going to do all these things throughout the city, and perhaps, again, discouragement or unmet expectations and all those things in the battles that I face. Sometimes you can lose it, and we could tend to lose it, and we need to reignite that passion.

We need to reignite that thing, and God stirred me, and what He told me, He says, Leon, you're limiting me. You've settled. You've settled with Salt Church. Your goals are too small, and do you want to see me do things that are beyond what you can even think or imagine? You need to start dreaming bigger.

You need to start putting things crystal clear in front of the church and say, this is where we're going, this is what we're doing, because you don't believe I can do it. I say, God, that's not true. No, no, no, you don't believe I can do it. And I struggle because I don't want to put things out there that won't meet my expectations of what I think they should be, right? And it's a very scary thing, but God says, no, do you believe that I can do it?

I can do way beyond what you have the capacity to do, because you don't have the capacity to do it. You don't. But I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.

You don't. You don't. You don't. I could give you a vision way beyond what you think, because is it really worth it, Leon? Is it worth to invest everything and put everything in and put ...

You had that moment in your calling where you said you were going to go out and start a church in Virginia Beach, and it was going to do these amazing things, and I was willing to give up everything for it, and I had to really get with God, and God had to really hit me hard and say, Leon, are you willing to do this again? You need to repent and repeat what you once had, that passion. I don't want to limit God anymore, and God gave me this number, and he said 1,000 people for Jesus Christ. 1,000 people for Jesus Christ. 1,000 people for Jesus Christ.

I was like, God, I can't put that in front of the church. We run barely 100 in here. We're a small church in Virginia Beach. We have like 150 on our roll. I mean, this is ...

Lord, this ... We don't even have big churches. Big churches are shrinking in Hampton Roads. They're not even hitting 1,000 right now, and you said 1,000 people for Jesus Christ? He says, yes, I said 1,000 because you've got to stop limiting me in what I'm capable of doing, and it's not simply a number.

There are people behind these numbers. That reason we're here is to extend the kingdom of God, and we live in a post-Christian America. People do not want to go to church, okay? They don't care about church. They're jaded by the church.

They're not thinking about going to church, and it will be more than a nice piece of worship in a TED Talk, okay? And we're going to have to begin to align ourselves to think about what will it take, and what will I be willing to do, and how will I be willing to ... Will I be willing to make some sacrifices? And one other thing that God has challenged me on is ... In our leadership as well, I think we all were on the same page the last few weeks.

We've just been really talking and praying and seeking God about this, and we've been aiming for a new building. We have. We got a building fund, and you guys have been giving to it, and thank you so much for giving to the building fund, and we're not going to touch that building fund. We're definitely going to use it for a building, and we're going to continue to raise money, and if any of you have a million dollars you're ready to give to the church, we'll break ground tomorrow, okay? And we can get started if that's your calling, if that's who you are, and that's what you want, you know, if you feel led to do that, we won't say no to that.

But God said, Leon, you guys have used the building that you're aiming for as the obstacle to get to where I want you to go. He said, you have focused on the building too much. I said, I know God, but you know, if we get a building, we can be established, we can grow, and most people that get buildings, they grow, they double triple. He says, no, no, no, no, that's not your focus right now. Your focus is people.

Your focus is reaching people for Christ. That's what I called you from the beginning to do, is to reach people for Jesus Christ. The building will come if you focus on the vision that I gave you. The building will be there because what I'm doing is I'm preparing you for what's to come. So you need to begin to open vessels and place vessels out.

Jars, if you want to call them that. Vessels, jars, clay, jars, you need to put those out so that I can, spiritually speaking, I can start to feel those things. And that's what I want to talk about today. Because we are going to begin to align ourselves. And I mentioned in a post that I was going to make an announcement today.

And one of those things and one of those deals we're going to do is we realize that there have been weeks where we haven't had many seats in here. And we believe that it has capped, we've capped off. We went to two services and then the pandemic did another way. We went back to one service and to help our people, you know, stay healthy and stuff. But what I realized is we are kind of in between a rock and a hard place because we can do two services here, but we don't quite have the people to do two services.

So we don't want to, like, wear out our volunteers and things like that. So we really still need to focus on one service. But at the same time, we can't continue to do one service because we're filling up too much. And people are, you know, you guys don't want to sit on top of somebody, right? Let's just be honest.

So we've been talking to the Doubletree Hotel, and it looks like we're still working out some things. But we're aiming for September to move over to the Doubletree with a ballroom that holds 300 to 500 people. We have more kids area because our kids area is filling up in there, and we don't really have a lot of space for kids over there. And we got plenty of space, plenty of opportunity there to go to the next level. So we're looking at that.

That's what I wanted to share today. Nobody's clapping. I know y'all like it here too. I like that, but I've got to make some sacrifices. I love kind of a stadium seating and all that.

But I also do like a stage too because I can kind of, you know, see you a little better. But anyway, that's what we're going to be aiming towards here in the future. And I believe that these are stepping stones to get to that building, to get to those other things. But we've got to start opening up some vessels, opening up some jars so that God can pour into those jars in order for us to reach 1,000 people. People for Christ.

And we've received, let me just say this, this wasn't in my message, we've received prophetic statements over this, we've had dreams come in, people saying, I mean, there was almost like identical prophecy and dreams that said that, I was saying, what a difference a year makes, what a difference a year makes. Even now we can see that, like we almost, guys, during the pandemic, and we're not going to blame the pandemic anymore, the pandemic's gone, we're aiming for this, but during the pandemic, there was a week, we had four people in the first service, because everybody was sick, four people sitting out there, you know, and our volunteers, obviously, and God has just brought us through that, and we've gotten back, and we're just seeing God do things, but a little bit of salt goes a long way, we're a little church. Okay? Let's just be real. We're a smaller church, okay?

We're probably among, most churches are smaller churches, okay? And this is big vision. So what it takes is stirring that jar that God's given us. Because some of you, you have a passion, and when you first found Christ, and when you were following Christ, you had a passion and a heart, and you've lost it. And my hope is today, by looking at this, and the reason I mentioned jars and vessels, we're going to talk about jars and vessels in Scripture here.

But some of you have lost that. You've lost that passion, you've lost that heart, and God needs you. God's got a big vision for your life, God's got a big vision for our church, God's got a vision for the future, because He's coming, and He's coming soon, and we want to prepare the way. And He's called us to do it. So is it worth it?

Is freedom worth it? Is freedom worth it? Is the freedom, the true freedom? People are enslaved to bondage and sin, and sin makes people sick. It's a disease.

But freedom is available to us. Isaiah, or Elisha, rather. We find him in 2 Kings 4, 1-7. If you want to follow along with me here, you can also go to our Bible app and pull it up if you would like. And it says this, The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord, but now his creditors are coming to take my two boys as his slaves.

And I read that, but there's some explanation in here. I mean, she's concerned. Your servant has died. My husband's dead, and here I am, and he revered the Lord, and here I am, worried about my boys being taken away and going into slavery. What am I going to do?

And Elisha replied to her, How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except... A small jar of olive oil. Elisha said, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.

And then he says this, don't ask for just a few. Don't limit yourself to just a few, okay? Get as many as you can. Get as many jars, get as many vessels as you possibly can. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.

Pour oil into the jars and fill each jar and put it to the side. And she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. And they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. And when all the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one. And he replied, there's no jars left.

Then the oil stopped flowing. Probably don't want to underline that right there because I'm going to make an emphasis on that in a minute. And she went and told the man of God and said, go sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live with what's left. Wow.

A miracle happened. A miracle happened. And God wants to perform a miracle in our church. God wants to meet our vision. God wants to perform a miracle in your life and a vision for your life.

If you can't hold on to your vision for your life that God has given you, a God-honoring vision that God has given you, how can you expect God to do anything through our church? And I believe it starts with you. It starts with you. And what are some things that limit us from God doing what he wants to do through us? Because he wants to do abundantly all that you can ask or think according to the power that is at work within us.

Paul prays over the church over and over again. But we limit ourselves. Why do we do that? First of all, our circumstances. We limit ourselves because of our circumstances.

Verse 1, it says, your servant, my husband, is dead. My husband's dead. And now the creditors are after me. I mean, I'm just limited. My circumstances.

I mean, it wasn't my fault that he died. I mean, she didn't ask for her husband to be taken away from her. The circumstances were kind of out of her control. And some of you are in dire circumstances perhaps, you know. And it's out of your control.

I mean, the economy's bad and you're not making money like you used to or you're paying out a lot of bills. Maybe you're losing your retirement and you're like, holy cow, what's going on with my life? What's going on right now? And some of you just need to top and take a deep breath and just understand that God is in control and stop thinking. Don't lose track of what God wants to do in your life just because the circumstances are out there that are out of your control.

But let me also say this, and some of you probably need to hear this, that some of you are going through some things because you did make some choices in your life and there's some backlash from that, right? And you're still walking through that process. The good news is you're going to come out on the other side and you're going to be completely free and you're going to be completely whole, but you probably have made some bad decisions. Maybe you made some illegal decisions. Maybe you had a drug addiction and you're still walking through that and trying to break free of that stronghold.

Maybe- You made some illegal business decisions, and perhaps you need to serve time, or you're in the process of serving time, or whatever it is, there's things, there's consequences to some choices because, you know, sin is a disease. It doesn't matter if you didn't know better before you knew Christ and you were doing what you were doing. It affects both those who follow Christ and those who don't follow Christ. That's why we hate sin. That's why God hates sin.

He doesn't like sin because it damages the soul, and you're walking through that. Maybe you've come out of a really bad divorce, and you're still trying to figure out, you know, relationships, and marriage, and dating, and all that stuff. Guess what? That's a consequence of some of the choices that you have made, and you're still walking through that. So be hopeful that as you walk through that, that you'll come out of that.

But for most of you, in most cases, a lot of these circumstances are out of our control. They're in God's control. And we never want to have this woe is me mentality because the woe is me will never get you to where God wants to take you. If you sit around sad and whiny all the time, prophet Jeremiah, look, we cannot be that kind of people. We have the greatest gift that's ever been given, a free gift of salvation and freedom in Jesus Christ.

And we should be excited to share that with absolutely everyone we possibly can. And we need to hold on to that. They want to see that. Because, look, life reigns on the just and the unjust, as Job says. It just happens.

Christian or no Christian. Which leads me to my next point. Some of you are really disappointed with God. You know what disappointment is? It's unmet expectations.

I know I've been there. God, I've been doing this for you. I've been working hard. I've been praying. I've been reading my Bible.

I've been going to church every Sunday. Some of you are like, I've done all of this. I've surrendered all this to you. And I still haven't seen anything. Because we thought that being a Christ follower would keep us from calamity, right?

We thought, oh, this is going to be a good life from here on out. We experienced the joy of salvation. But life still threw us some hard balls. And we're just really, really trying hard to work through those things. In fact, in the second part of verse 1, she says, You know that he revered the Lord.

My husband revered the Lord. So why am I going through this? Why is this happening? Look, I'm pushing. I'm doing.

We did everything that was right. He was a prophet for crying out loud. I'm a pastor, God. I mean, I'm doing your work, you know. Why does this and this and this and this happen to me?

And you pray and you dream and you believe and you have these big expectations. You know that God can do them, but you just become disappointed. And here's what happens. When we do that, when we expect God to follow up with the things that we do, it's religion with a capital R. What we've done is we've hijacked...

hijack A relationship and made it a religious thing. And religion is death. Religion is death. In fact, religion without relationship. Somebody reminded me the other day of a statement I made five or six years ago and they wrote it down.

Religion without relationship is rebellion. So you're rebelling against God when you think that God is going to do something just because you're going through the rules and the regulations, okay? It's not about rules, it's about relationship. And I hate religion more than anybody else in here. But religion without relationship is rebellion.

I tell people all the time, I hate religion so I started a church. That's why we're here. We're here because it is about freedom in Christ Jesus and being in Him and not doing things for Him. And until you figure that out, you're never going to be able to do all that God has called you to do and be all that God has called you to be and do things majorly beyond what He could even ask or think because you're too busy worried about where you are right now and what God hasn't done for you. And you're yelling at God when God's like, you're doing it to yourself because you're religious.

And that's what I'm saying. That's what He says. And I love how Joni Erickson Tata says it. And this is, she wrote it in her book, An Unforgettable Story. And if you know anything about Joni, she was paralyzed from the neck down.

She's a prolific author, speaker. She talks about pain and dealing with pain and dealing with circumstances. She, a teenager died from a pain incident, knows the Lord, Holy Spirit-filled woman. She shared this about our rights because we like our rights, right? I'm doing this, so therefore I should get this.

And it's my right. And it's my right, and it's my need. We'll be right back. Our needs and our rights. Here's what she says about this.

Only God is capable of telling us what rights and needs are. What our rights and needs are. You have to surrender that right to Him. And you have to surrender that right to Him. No matter what you're going through, you can't blame God.

You have to surrender. Look, it's not about me. It's about you, God. And regardless of what I'm going through, I'm not going to make my relationship with you based on what you do for me. I'm going to make my relationship based on who you are because you loved me when I was still yet a sinner.

You saved me by grace. So I'm not going to allow that to happen. Number three, we limit God because of our lack. We limit what God can do through us because of what we lack. I don't have a lot.

In fact, verse 2 says, Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a jar, a small jar of olive oil, a little clay jar of oil. That's all she had. I'm inadequate. I don't have a lot of resource. There's deficiencies.

It's meager. I don't have what it takes to do what this big thing is that you've called the church to do, you've called me to do that you called all. That you called me to do. That you called me to do. All of us to do, it doesn't, I don't know, Lord, you know, just a side note, perhaps the reason your resources are so low is because you haven't surrendered your resources to God, and it's keeping you capped off, and why, we, inadequacy and all this stuff, all of us, do you feel inadequate, do you feel inadequate, well, you know what, the Bible says, it says we are inadequate, but we don't have to overcome.

It says in his weakness, in our weakness, pardon, he is made strong, because we rely on him, because he is the strength of our heart and our portion forever, right, in our own ability, we cannot conquer the vision that Salt Church has given us, we cannot meet the vision, that we cannot meet these goals, and that's why we put these big goals out there, because we have to believe and stretch, beyond where we think that God can get, look, if I put a vision of, oh, we're going to reach 200 people, that's an easy approach, you know, and we're, and again, we're capping God off, but we've got to believe that God can do more, and it's not through us, but it's through him, well, it is through us, in him, through us, because it is through us, because it is through us, because it is through us, right, Paul? Now, let me just say this also. Everybody in here is a 10 and something. I say this all the time, all the time, all the time. You may not be a public speaker.

You may not be a pastor. You may not be a prophet. You may not be, you know, a leader in certain areas, but you're a leader somewhere. You have a passion in something. And in fact, here's what it says in 1 Corinthians.

It says there are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service of the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work. And then it goes on in verse 11. All these are work, excuse me, all these are the work of one and the same spirit.

The second part and he distributes them to each one just as he determines. He determines what you are given. But what he's determined to have given you, you're expected to use, but it may not be the same as me. Man, I have such a passion for people becoming pastors and preaching and sharing and loving and caring for people. But I realize that not everybody in here is called to be a pastor.

And that's one of the things I had to learn when I was younger. Everybody should be this. Everybody should be this. Here's what I want to say. You have a cause and you have a passion.

You have a passion online. You have a passion. You have a calling. But be careful not to impose your passion and your gifting and your calling on everybody. I've had so many conversations with people.

Well, I believe the church should be small. I believe the church should be big. I think we should do house churches. I think everybody should go for this cause. Why aren't we feeding the homeless enough?

Why aren't we, you know, they have these people with compassion. Why aren't your church doing this? Why aren't your church doing that? And everybody should be doing the same thing. There's this cause, bigger, you know, this big cause, which is a righteous cause, but we believe that, oh, all the church is wrong because they don't go for this particular cause because what we're doing is we're imposing a gift that hasn't been gifted to that person by God.

Some of you have leadership giftings, some of you have administrative giftings, some of you have prophetic giftings and encouraging people, and some of you are bleeding heart, compassionate for people, and you're willing to give everything you have to help the poor, but just because somebody else doesn't have that gift doesn't mean they're bad or they're wrong, it's just not their thing. But let me say this, all of you have something. And all of us need to be doing that. We need to be bringing our passions and our gifts and our heart together in order, because it takes the arm and the leg and the eyes and everything, right? All the members of the body of Christ, as the Bible talks about, to make it happen.

So everybody has a 10 somewhere, so don't let that limit what God can do in your life. You have something powerful that God has given you. Number four, capacity. You have to increase your capacity, okay? And the way you do that is you've got to look and see what's in your house.

Look at 2 Kings 4.2. It says, Tell me, what do you have in your house? That's how Elisha responded to her statement when she said, I just don't have anything. You know, everything's wrong.

Everything, the world's going, well, what's in your house? What is in your house? And there's a few ways I want to look. So, he's pointing at her internal being. God has a habit of pointing out those jars in our lives that are full, but are empty at the same time, because the fullness that we've placed in the jars actually makes us more empty because we don't have the right kind of oil in them.

The only jar she had was full of oil, but there was no room for the right oil. Like God wanted to fill up oil, she wanted to overflow her with oil, wanted more vases, more opportunities for her to meet immeasurably more than she could even think or imagine. But here's the deal. She looked at only one jar. There was no capacity for God to fill her with the oil that would really truly make her free and pay off her creditors.

Because, for many of you, you're filled with the oil of life, the oil of the flesh, the oil of distractions, and you are held bondage to those things, and the creditors have you. The debtors have you. They have you. So, what's in your house is my question. Is it full of little gods that demand your attention, your time, your passions, your treasure?

Is it flesh to wrong desires? Because there's counterfeit desires. You think those are good desires, but what are the true, real desires that you have, that you should have? Things that we think bring happiness that don't, right? And we limit what God is capable of doing in our lives because we settle for being enslaved rather than being truly free.

So, leading to that, I got three quick points here, and then y'all can go out and enjoy 4th of July hot dogs and beach time. But I want to bring you a little bit of encouragement here. So, to piggyback off of that, you got to, number one, be willing to pour out so God can pour in. So, it says she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they brought the jars to her, and she kept pouring. You got to get the bad oil out.

How do you do that? Well, I think it's interesting that she went to the back room and shut the door. Elisha said, go to the back room and shut the door and get away from the distractions, get away from the disturbance that is keeping you from receiving the miracle that God wants to do for you. So, you got to get away from those things. Now, I'm not telling you, I'm not going to give you, I've got some ideas, and maybe I'll share it with you with another time of how to do quiet time and get away from distractions and all that, but that's not primarily what I'm saying today.

Maybe that is for you, maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific.

Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific.

Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. Maybe that specific. This is a big...

This thing isn't for you, but you need to somehow shut the door on the things around you and get it out of your life, get all that messiness, all that ucky oil out of your life so that you can be filled with the true oil that overflows and actually brings true happiness and not this false counterfeit happiness. And it's a battle. I love how John Piper says that the spirit has landed to do battle with the flesh, so take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times. Do you feel like your soul is a battlefield at times? I mean, you're just fighting with the desires of, you know, the world and the desires of the spirit and so what do we do?

How does this work? Because we need to walk in the spirit. Walking in the spirit. Now that sounds like out there, right? Like, what do you mean walking in the spirit?

Everybody talks about, it's like a nice pastor term when you walk in the spirit, but what does that really mean? How does that work? You allow the spirit. You allow the spirit to control you by keeping your heart happy in God. Now, how do you keep your heart happy in God?

By walking by the spirit when you're, see, you can walk by the spirit when your heart is at rest in his promises. You need to recall the promises of God and live in the promises of God. Resting in the promises of God is the pipeline to the spirit coming in. So when you're discouraged and you're disappointed, you need to lean right back into the promises of God. You need to believe in the promises of God because what happens?

It creates faith. By faith, you trust in the promise and it pushes out fear. It pushes out guilt. It pushes out shame. It pushes out the greed of life.

It does all those things. And God, it literally gives you an appetite to enjoy God's power. It creates an appetite and a hunger inside of you. And we stop trying to fill all this stuff, this emptiness of the world in our heart. And we release it and we give it to God.

And then the spirit will work this miraculous renewal in our lives. Sometimes when you start meditating on the unspeakable promises day and night, all the time, we have that. That's ammo for walking against the flesh and walking in the spirit of God, against Satan, his stronghold, the pleasures of this world. We can trust in God's promises. And this also means you have to use what you have, which leads me to my second point.

Having a jar, just a jar, you have to use what you have. And you have to believe that he can fill it way more than you currently can. That's my second point. Believe he can do way, way, way more than you currently think. Think about what you think you can do on your own, even in your best day.

He can do way, way, way, way, way, way more than that. That's why he said, Elisha said, go around and ask all your neighbors to empty their jars and don't just do a few, okay? He says, do more than a few. Do as many as you can. Because, you know, God's getting ready to do.

He said, let's make this a big accomplishment. It's just like when he was challenging the prophets of Baal, you know, it's like, you know, I'm not just going to call down fire from heaven, I'm actually going to, let's douse the altar. I think that was actually Elijah. But the douse the altar, let's just make it a big thing. Let's not settle for something we can just do.

Douse the altar with water and then fire comes from heaven and consumes it all up. That's God, you can't mistake that. Let's do something that's just way more and believe something way more so that we don't take credit for ourselves because it isn't about us, is it? We want to do something so big and so powerful and so wonderful that God even, this thing called liberty, this thing called life, this thing that we celebrate in our country, this freedom, the true freedom that we have in Christ, this thing that we celebrate, let's believe for more because it's available for so many more people. And then he says, she said, there is not a jar left.

And what's interesting here, she said, then the oil stopped. So the oil stopped. You got to believe in faith for more and watch what God does. I think it's interesting that the oil stopped because imagine if she had about five or six more jars or 10 or 20 more jars. Do you think the oil would have kept running?

I think so. I think there's a principle here. Like, if we don't believe for more, then God won't feel more. God will just say, okay, you're not believing enough. And I think God's really trying to tell us we got to believe for more.

We got to believe that God has more for us, that God wants to do more for us because we're all meant to be purposeful people. We are living for purpose. And your will is, the will for your life is that God extend the kingdom of heaven through you and you can do so much more. And it doesn't, and you can't, and you won't be limited. That's why we put a thousand jars out, a thousand people for Jesus Christ because we want God the poor.

And that's just a short-term vision, guys. We believe that God can do, there's 1.7 million people in Hampton Roads, 1.7 million people. If every church had a thousand people in it, it still wouldn't even barely hit those who don't attend church or have no relationship with Christ.

It would barely even hit the numbers here. And we have larger churches that can't even hit those numbers right now. And we're a small church. We're a small church. But man, I believe that God can use a small church to do very, very big things.

He's used so much fun. Gideon's army, I'm just going to use a few people to accomplish much. And we've just got to start laying out the jars. We've just got to put the jars out. We've got to believe, and we've got to get on target.

We've got to get on target. We've got to start aligning ourselves, and our team teams have got to start aligning ourselves. Our ministry teams have got to align ourselves. Our tech teams have got to start aligning ourselves. Okay, if we're going to reach 1,000 people, what are we doing now that's good?

And what's not, you know, where do we need to go now? We've got to start thinking. In fact, Christina's not in here, so I'll pick on her a second. So tell her that I picked on her a little bit. But this morning, she even said, we left a flag at home.

We had baptism at the beach last week, and we had a flag out at the beach. And they had it in her garage and forgot to bring it in. And she said, so I left the flag at home. Do we need the other flag? I answered the question with another question.

I said, what would a church of 1,000 do? She said, I'll go get the flag. See, we've got to start changing. Like, if we're going to meet people, if we're going to figure it out, and there's going to be some things we're going to have to do. Again, we're in a post-Christian America.

We're going to have to think completely different outside the box. But we're always aiming towards something that God can do and not us on our own. And we're going to create the vessels. But our part is to create the vessels, to put the vessels down, to put the jars out, so that we can expect God to fill us up. Because, as I've quoted over and over again in Ephesians 3.

20, Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us. God can give you a vision way beyond your current capacity, but it's not beyond his. God can give you a vision way beyond. God can give you a vision way beyond your current capacity, people. But it's not beyond what he is capable of doing.

And then finally, it starts with faith and a jar of oil. That was the title of my message, Faith and a Jar of Oil. It starts with faith and a jar of oil. Because Noah began with planting seeds in the ground to build an ark. 120 years.

Jewish tradition tells us that the reason it took 120 years is because he had to grow the trees. David began as a shepherd boy. He was in the field. He was this rugged little boy who was called to be a king. And we know the story that for years he had to run from King Saul and hide in caves and be lesser than the less in his society before he could actually be a king.

He had to humble himself. He had a target on his life. And Elisha washed Elijah's hands for six years before he ever did anything. He simply just washed his hands. It starts small.

It starts with a little bit of faith. It starts with scrubbing toilets. Thank God for Jesse Waring who comes in here every morning on Sunday even when he's not on and scrubs those bathrooms from the theater the night before because they're not, you know, to make it accommodating. See, little things like that matter. I saw me years ago.

I love it. I think I repost every once in a while. Called the ministry, you won't even stack chairs, you know. Like, I'm not even good enough to, you know, I'm too good to stack chairs. I want to be in ministry, you know.

You don't even stack chairs. You don't even show, like, we need to show up for the small things. It really starts. It starts with faith. First of all, we believe that God can do it.

Yes, we know that. I think most people believe that. But our jar of oil, what do we have? Do we believe that God can use that jar of oil? Do we believe that God wants to do big things in our life?

And listen, listen, we've got to love. I know the church is broken. I know maybe you've been disappointed. Maybe you're here today and this is your first time in church for years because the church has been just really bad to you. And it was hard for you to even come back today.

Let me just say this. Church is broken, but Jesus loves the church. He loved the church. This is bright. Right.

And if you're, you know, look, we're not going to get it perfect, but come back home and be with some people that are really trying, you know. We're broken, but we're trying to please God. And we realize we can't do it in our own power because it's in him that he professed. And listen, listen. And some of you are disgusted with the church right now.

You may be attending church and you're disgusted with the church. I've seen the comments on Facebook. I've seen the comments on social media. I've seen the emails. I've seen people.

And you just think that the church is just so, so, so bad. Well, guess what? Jesus loves the church and Jesus loves you. And we should do it. So what is it worth to extend the kingdom of God to put up with a few disgusting people?

Because as I mentioned in the past messages, some people just aren't Christians even in the church. So this is where they probably need to be so they can find Jesus. And we want more people that aren't Christians in the church because they need to hear the good news of Jesus. We don't want this just to be a club, a social club. We want it to be a place where people can find the healing and freedom and power in Jesus Christ and be broken from their chains.

This is what it's about. My heart is that I want to please the master. I mean, that's all I want to do. And our heart should be that, like, please our Lord Jesus Christ. To make him proud of me.

And he is proud of you. As long as you are working and moving and believing and trusting in him, you have that faith. And this is what he says about just starting with the little things. He says this in Matthew 25. Well done, my good and faithful servant.

You have been. Faithful over a little, and I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master." That parable is so powerful because it shows the heart of the Father. He says, I've given you some small things, I've given you a jar of oil, but I've given you a big vision.

I want to see. See, Jesus didn't come to this church just to recreate social clubs. Jesus came to this church to transform the entire universe, okay? And He's coming back again, and He's coming soon. And it's urgent that we get out there and we start preaching and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ because these people are destined for hell.

And why would we not want to tell them about the good news that they can be rescued from it? Can you hate somebody so much that you don't want to tell them about the very thing that you've been rescued from? That they're going down the same path too? No, this is why Jesus did. So we believe for great things.

Be faithful with the small things. So I leave you with this. Dream big. Church, let's dream big. Will y'all dream big with me?

Is it okay to dream big with me? If you don't want to dream big with me, that's fine. That's fine. You don't have to. You don't have to, you know.

That's fine. That's fine. But do you want to be a part of Salt Church doing exceptional things for the glory of God? Then let's roll together. Let's do this together.

It's going to be powerful serving, loving God, loving people. A little bit of salt goes a long way. So we dream big, we start small, and we act now. We dream big, we start small. We got to put action.

It's about action. Put your faith in the action. It's not just talk about it. Let's not dream about it. Let's start small and start acting now.

Salt Church is a little church, but man, if you can accomplish big things, you can accomplish big things in Jesus Christ. And I believe that God wants us to do much, much, much, much more. So let's believe together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you, God, for life and liberty. We thank you that true liberty and true life and true freedom does come through you, Lord.

And because it is worth it, Lord. It is worth it because we remember what you did for us. That you gave your life on the cross and that day and that time and that hour and that moment and that period of time. We experience so much grace and so much love over our life. It was a powerful thing, God, and we don't want to let that go.

So we remember, we repent, and we repeat. And we stir up the gifts within us so that we can accomplish that thing which you have given us. That great cause that is worthy and worthy, worthy of you. Because you have called us to go into the world and make disciples. Teach them all that I have said.

Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And remember that I am with you always. And we hold on to that, God. And we remember, stir up that passion inside of us. And that we would move and act now, God.

Give us everything that we need to act now, God. Stir it up in us, Lord. and there's people here today, if you just continue. In that spirit, they may have not taken the first act of faith. Let me tell you something.

Do you want to experience true freedom? We're celebrating 4th of July today. I will give you true freedom. Jesus Christ is true freedom. Under His authority, you will find so much life and freedom, you won't want to go back.

And if you'll give your life to Jesus today, He'll make you new. And if you believe that He is the Son of God, confess your sin to Him, ask Him to come into your heart, He will make you a new creation. Just pray this with me, if that's you today. Father, I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe that You died on the cross for my sin.

I believe that You are the blood sacrifice for all. That is freedom. That under Your authority, there is true freedom. I don't want to be enslaved to the world anymore. I don't want to be enslaved to myself anymore.

I want to be freed. I want to be... I want to be completely free and free indeed, away from religion, away from all those things, but a relationship with You. So come into my heart, come into my life, and make me brand new. In the name of Jesus, we all say amen.

Amen. Praise God. Can y'all give God a hand, clap of praise. We worship You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

We're just going to continue in this time of worship, and even though we don't pass around buckets or anything like that, you can still give to Salt Church. And if you're a regular attender and not a brand new visitor, if you are a visitor online or in person, we just thank you for being here. Your presence is a gift, and we don't want you to feel compelled to give, but if you would like to support Salt and our mission within our church, in our church family, in our city, in our state, in our country, and indeed, the world, you can. There are several ways you can do that, and there will be a slide up there that will show you how. You can put something in the box on your way out.

You can mail something in to our P.O. box. You can give securely through Planning Center. You can even text the amount you want to give to 84321.

We thank you for continuing to do that, and we pray that God just rains down blessings on you, and that's not just financial ones, but that's spiritual ones. That's in your life, your job, just everything about. What you're doing and what you're going through, we ask that God would just give you the ability because really he controls all of it and it all belongs to him. Thank you so much for that. Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend, a wonderful Independence Day.

Be safe and be fulfilled. And we ask that you would just celebrate together and thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the freedom that he has given us. And if you would like to go to lunch with Leon today, please don't forget if you're brand new. Stop by the connections area on the way out and they'll let you know how to do that. Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everybody.