This sermon delves into the story of a widow in 2 Kings 4 who faced debt and the threat of losing her sons to slavery, highlighting the importance of faith, prayer, and seeking God's provision in times of trouble. It emphasizes the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to live a life of holiness, and to resist the temptations of the flesh that lead to bondage. The message encourages shutting out distractions, seeking God's freedom, and living in the victory of Christ's resurrection.

Now dear friends, in that portion of scripture which we read this morning, in 2nd Kings and the 4th chapter, 2nd Kings and the 4th chapter, the first verse, Now there cried a certain woman who was a widow, you see, of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elijah. Elijah was the prophet who came after the prophet Elijah, and Elijah was the man who prayed gave me a double portion of the spirit which is upon you, a prayer of faith, double portion. You know, if you approach somebody who has got two thousand dollars in his pocket, and you say what I need and what you must give me is four thousand, well, you see, that talks of not just an exaggerated kind of wish, but the value that is put upon the blessing of God. Give me a double portion. And of course, God did use Elijah after the prophet Elijah had been caught up. You know, here was an awful situation. Her husband having died, and she had gotten into debt, and the creditors were at the door, and this woman is crying to Elijah the prophet. Is there any way by which I can be delivered? Thou knowest that your servant, my husband, did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be slaves. The creditor is at the door. You know, I hardly know the kind of feelings that would be in the heart of anybody who sees or hears the creditor knocking, the knock of the creditor. You know, my father used to speak of a time when he just did not have the rent to pay. And I remember the rent collector of the landlord who was a very rotund type of personality with a huge stomach and a short frame. And this gentleman used to come in and, of course, collect the rent. And my dad did not have the rent, and so said to the Lord, Lord, I can't see this man. Don't let him come till you give me the money to pay him. And, of course, my dad would not ask anybody for a penny. When he said that he lived by faith, it was by faith, not by faith and hints and appeals. No. However, miraculously, miraculously, the rent collector just would not come. And, you know, I don't know what relief my dad would have felt because I was just a boy at that time. But I recall him saying how God answered his prayer and kept away the rent collector until he had sent the money that was needed for that payment. You know, folks, in little things, we don't ask God and exercise faith. And when we don't do that, we are not getting ready to face the bigger problems of life. There are bigger problems which call for great faith. And how are you going to have such faith? You see, I feel very sad for boys who are brought up in affluent homes when there's too much money in the house. All the children don't feel obliged to even do hard work. And laziness has become such a prevalent disease in the nation. It is amazing. Oh, I must have this. I must drink only this particular brand of beverage. What rubbish is that? Now, you know, my dear friends, and you just increase your needs. So, you have cause to grumble about this and grumble about that. And we become perpetual grumblers. How will there be faith in such a heart? There will never be faith. There will be a sense of being deprived of this or looking over at the neighbor which I have never done by the grace of God. Oh, God bless my neighbors. Let him do it. Why do I feel hurt about it? I should rejoice when my neighbor is happy. That's the heart which Jesus gives. But you know, when I had to pray for a medical student who came to me and said, a heathen boy, and he said, oh, my head, I'm not able to study. There's an awful headache. And I know how it is caused. One of my uncles apparently certainly would have played black magic against me. You know, how many people are afraid of black arts? And they say that while in some areas, there is a 30% growth in witches and witchcraft and 20% declension in church attendance. This was reported to me about some churches. How tragic. So dependence on the devil has become more potent and more reasonable than dependence upon the almighty and loving father. So we are passing through such a time. Now, what is this that is happening here? The creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. Now, we hardly know what it is to be bondmen, isn't it? Well, I was not under any obligation to anybody except this one obligation that Jesus commanded me to take the good news to every creature. And that is my grief that I have not fulfilled. You know, apart from that, you know, I never put myself under any obligation. My father taught me, if you happen to take a friend with you or accompany a friend to just have a drink, a coffee or something, be sure to pay the bill. Don't you be under obligation to that boy. So when I was an unconverted boy, my father taught me that. So I never placed myself under anybody's heel or thumb. So I've never felt obliged to say, yes, yes, yes, I'll do this, I'll do that. When people wanted to lead me into wrongdoing. Now, however, when you become a bondman that is a slave. I do not know how many people who say, my dad was a slave in the southern states, my granddad picked peanuts. And those that recall that ever stopped to praise God for the loving labors of William Wilberforce. Do they ever say, hey, there were men who labored, fasted, prayed, and fought year after year. As a matter of fact, the death of Abraham Lincoln was also a prize that had to be paid for my freedom. No, I don't see such gratitude around, not even a recognition of that kind of gratitude. You know, it's all a cry, I don't have this, I don't have that. And let me get more entitlements from the government, and so on and so forth. You know, when they say that 47% of American households did not pay any income tax. That's startling, appalling. How does a country run? Anyway, here is a situation of slavery. The slave master is knocking at the door. You know, the deprivation of freedom, we don't know that. But still, how hard this country and those that wrote the Constitution of this country, treasured and wanted the preservation of these freedoms. And today, what? Are we going to have the slave master knocking at the church door at the pulpit by misconceived laws? Are we going to be in terror that we are going to lose our freedoms? My dear friends, here is this woman showing us the way. Prayer, going to the prophet. You know, the spirit of prophecy appears to die out. We don't seem to forestall any of these situations. We only react to them. You see, the Bible tells us that the Holy Ghost is given, the Holy Spirit. I'll give you a comforter. He shall lead you into all truth. He shall show you things to come. Hey, this is ahead. You're going to meet this on the road. Get ready. Be prepared. You know, last night at our fasting prayer meeting, it was a message of my father's, or a prayer of my father's was mentioned. And it was this. Lord, make me like Joseph. Give me that purity. Joseph ran away from sin and Joseph foresaw what was ahead of the nation. The terrible famine that was coming, how to save the nation and the nations around. We don't seem to have a prophetic spirit. Why? We don't even know how to go alone and pray. Elijah said to her, what shall I do for you? Tell me. What has thou in the house? Strange, isn't it? Now, have you got something which you can sell off? What has thou in your house? You know, so many people hold fast to so much junk. I have learned in my life to just keep those things handy, which I very much need. In other words, I have learned to live out of a suitcase. And I don't miss this and miss that, you know. And that has helped me a great deal in my mobility to move quickly and fast from one place of need to another place of need. I did not have to clutter myself with so many things. I need this. I need that. I must pack this. I must pack that. Now, so when a suitcase was lost in transit or lost by the airline, that did not seem like a great tragedy to me. Of course, it's an inconvenience. You need your undergarments at least to keep clean. But normally in most hotel rooms, you have got a faucet and you have got running water and you can wash overnight and wear it next morning. So that was no great problem either. However, when this cry came to the Prophet, he said, what have you got? I have only a pot of oil. I don't understand. She didn't have flour. She did not have anything which needed to be cooked with that oil. She just had one pot of oil. So the Prophet said to her, go collect all the vessels that you can, utensils, vessels that you can possibly collect. And after she had collected them, the Prophet said, hey, now all these vessels are around, are filling my house. What shall I do? Pour that oil. You mean a few drops here, a few drops in the other? And the oil multiplied. You know, the oil stands for the Holy Spirit. She held on to her faith. She held on to that indwelling spirit of God. See, we must not sigh against God. We must not say anything that reflects negatively. Even in the midst of our hardest trial, we should not say anything. God is good. That's it. We get into a difficult situations by our own wrongdoing. Most often, they are self-inflicted. God has a way of delivering us. Now, that be filled with the spirit is something which people don't quite stop and possess. But God says, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Now, I met a man who said he could consume, he would sit down and consume 20, you know, in those places, they drink out of huge jars, more like a pot. And he said 23 pots. And as he sat in the meeting, this man of great violence, who would beat up his wife for coming to the meeting and hearing God's Word, he was transformed and he became one of our preachers. So, my dear friends, that part of oil instead of the part of beer, the part of liquor, don't be drunk with wine, but rather be filled with the spirit, filled with the spirit. You know, people have just said, okay, this particular gift signifies that I am filled with the spirit. No, there are many gifts. There are many tokens which God gives. But the test of it is holy living, holy living. When you have, you're filled with God's Holy Spirit, then your life is filled with God's holiness, holiness unto the Lord. You know, your tongue is sanctified. No more lies. You don't want to speak evil. You know, when you sit down with some people, they just spew out evil. Talk about somebody. Why talk about others? Why can't I talk about what God has been telling me that morning? We don't talk about that. We talk about somebody else. How is that going to help us? No, it's not going to help us at all. Speak not evil one of another, brethren, says God's word. Negative mind, speaking evil, thinking evil. Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is that. To the pure, all things are pure. You know, I asked somebody, now, if your car park of your church gets filled with some of the biggest cars, the most expensive cars, and your neighbors drive in on those gleaming, expensive cars, do you shout hallelujah? And generally, they would smirk or laugh and say no. We would remark, oh, he has bought a new car. Oh, that's an expensive car. You know how it is. It was not a hallelujah that came out of their hearts. My friend has a lovely new car. Hallelujah. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you rejoice. You don't look glum and you don't look at your neighbor. See, look, he's gotten rich. There's been a landfall of money, probably. Well, look at all that rubbish. And you are said to be filled with the spirit, but you're filled with the devil's spirit when your reactions are like that. My dear friends, so what did the prophet say? Shut the door. Shut the door. No, today it's almost impossible to shut the door. Why? You know, there are the beepers, there are the cell phones, there are the all kinds of gadgets, beeping, squeaking, squealing all over the place. And soon you might have even some kind of loud horns going off if you say I'm deaf or I'm hard of hearing. You know, it's almost impossible for us to shut the door. Now, my dear friends, how would you like it? You're having an audience with the Queen of England and beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Your cell phone goes off. You'll be taken for a madman and you'll be quickly dragged out of the place. But we are in such a straight today. We can't be still. It's shocking. I always thought it was very poor manners to call anybody after 9.30, 10. You know, though my calls are looked forward to because rarely do I bother people with calls and they know that if I call, there is something very important to pass on and it's going to be a brief call. However, I always thought it was bad manners. Ill-mannered. But nowadays, it looks as though people don't bother. They call at all odd hours to communicate rubbish. Nothing of moment. Shut the door, said the prophet. Jesus said the same. Jesus said, when thou prayest, go into your closet. Matthew 6, 6. Shut the door and speak to your father in secret. Don't keep one ear cocked for the beep, beeps. What is God saying to me? We are losing out. You know, we are losing out to all kinds of cheap gadgets. You know, why should a man lose his sleep over a game? And sometimes I wonder, how do these people perform at work? The next day, they are here at the game, shouting themselves a horse. You know, emptying the beers, beer bottles. And how can these fellows perform next day? What kind of work will they turn out? The work ethic is gone. The discipline is gone. We don't even know how out of politeness to God to shut the door and say, I am going to be still. God is speaking to me. I will respect my God. You know, God has become a very cheap person today in our families. No reverence, no respect, whatever. We children in our home, we could not and would not disturb mother while she was praying. Mother was a very caring person, never neglected her family, did everything for us. But when she went alone for prayer, we reverenced that hour or two when mother was with God. You know, these are, these were very normal things to us. My dear friends, shut the door and God filled those vessels. Now sell these oil and let your sons be free from the bondman. When I have found people in great trouble, deep debt and so on, and I could see no way by which they could deliver themselves. I said, Lord, help me to help these people. Their whole family will suffer if this situation persists and the Lord would help me to release them from their creditor. Friends, we have a God that does not want us to be in bondage. Last of all, let us turn to Romans the eighth chapter. Romans 8, 12 and 13. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. You know, here he has been speaking about the spirit which quickened Jesus from the dead. If you dwell in your mortal bodies, then you too will be given that risen life. So here the word of God tells us that we are not debtors to all every whim and fancy that comes to us. Hey, I'd like to do this. I fancy. What do you fancy? One of the common questions today is what would you fancy? What food? Thai food or Malaysian food or Chinese or what? What is your preference? All right. Some people do have their preferences and let them please themselves. But must a man or a woman feel obligated to answer every call of the flesh? That way you will be destroyed. The flesh begins to lust after many things. It lusts after somebody else's wife or it lusts after some neighborhood person. I once told a girl in Indiana, hey, was there any reason for this neighbor man to be writing these letters to you? Did you provoke him by the way you dressed? You know, the skimpy stuff that people wear these days. Did you provoke him? He's a man of six or seven children. If so, you must repent. You have no business provoking that man to uncleanness and lust. You know, nobody seems to think of that the provocative way of handling your body. We are not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. 13th verse. For if we live after the flesh, you shall die. You will die. But if you through the spirit mortify, that's kill the deeds of the body, you shall live. Simple, plain, plain truth. If by the spirit you kill the deeds of the body, you will live. You'll be free. Otherwise, you will be in bondage. Are we debtors to the flesh? No. I am a debtor to Jesus Christ. I owe everything to him. My every breath, of course, I owe to him. And I am going to live seeking to pay back at least a little part of my enormous debt. Let us pray. Oh, loving father, we humble ourselves before you. How we almost seem to be debtors, slaves in a manner which cripples us, fills us with fear. 14th verse. Although around us, we see America being sold down the river and finding itself in trillions of debt, about which the leaders of the nation appear not to care very much. But Lord, we know that when we become captives to the flesh, our liberties are taken away, our freedoms destroyed. So what is happening in a wider world is just a reflection of what has happened in the heart, the heart of the nation. Oh, Lord, our God, you want us to be free by your spirit, free from the works of the flesh, the emotions that drag us down, the fears which tear us apart. By your spirit, you want us to be free. Let us be free, Lord. Let there be oil, the Holy Spirit that sets us free. 15th verse. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for the blood. Easter is just two weeks behind us. We've been thinking of that. Now we want to walk in Easter, every day Easter. My Lord is risen, so am I. I'm risen with him. So help us, we pray. In Jesus' holy name, amen.