In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of receiving a prophecy about traveling the world and being used by God. They express their initial confusion and doubt but acknowledge that there was something significant in the message. The speaker then reflects on the phrase "Fill my cup, Lord" and emphasizes the importance of being filled by God's blessings in order to pour out to others. They draw a parallel to the story of the Israelites in the wilderness, where God provided manna as their daily sustenance. The speaker highlights the lesson of not relying on past blessings but seeking God's provision daily and humbling oneself before Him.

I'd like to just read a short passage, a story, and leave you with two things that would draw us to pray now for ourselves. Let's look at it in the book of Exodus. The whole Israelite community set out from Elam. By the way, at Elam, there were palm trees and oasis and all kinds of good things. And on the 15th day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the Desert of Sin, having nothing to do with sin, transgression, which is between Elam and Sinai. There in the desert, they all complained to Moses and Aaron, and by the way, I just want to point out that when they left Elam, how did they get to Elam? They were led by the cloud. Who was directing the cloud? God. Everybody say God. God directed them to Elam. Why did they leave Elam? Because they had been told, when the cloud moves, follow the cloud. So God was directing their footsteps, and now they come to the desert between Sinai and Elam. There in the desert, they all complained to Moses and Aaron and said to them, we wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and have as much other food as we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death. There's a nice congregation to be in charge of, right? The Lord said to Moses, now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it. So Moses and Aaron said that was to prepare for the Sabbath, so they wouldn't have to work on the Sabbath. So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, this evening, you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. In the morning, you will see the dazzling light of the Lord's presence or the glory of the Lord. He has heard your complaints against him. Yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions. You were complaining about us, but you really were complaining about God. Then Moses said, it is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord. And later on in the evening, a large flock of quails flew in, enough to cover the camp. And in the morning, there was dew all around the camp. Now the quails obviously were to eat the meat. When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert. It was as delicate as frost. When the Israelites saw it, they didn't know what it was and asked each other, what is it? Where's where we get the Hebrew word manna. Moses said to them, this is the food that the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs. How much? As much as you need. Two quarts for each member of his household. The Israelites did this, some gathering more, others less. When they measured it, those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered less did not have too little. Each had gathered just what he needed. Moses said to them, no one is to keep any of it for tomorrow. In other words, you gotta get rid of it at the end of the day if you don't eat it. You can't keep it overnight. But some of them did not listen to Moses and save part of it. The next morning, the manna was full of worms and smelled rotten, and Moses was angry with them. So this is the story about how God supplied the manna down from heaven for them, along with the quails, but we're focusing on the manna. Let's just put in the background that in the Gospel of John when the religious leaders were harassing and hassling Jesus, they said, listen, we're the Jews. We're the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses is who our leader was, and Moses gave us the bread that came from heaven, speaking of the manna. And Jesus corrected them and said, Moses didn't give you anything. God gave you that, but that's not the real bread. I am the bread that comes down from heaven. When you partake of me through faith and prayer and reaching out and waiting on the Lord and trusting him, I am the bread that satisfies. So in this little story, I just want to say a couple things. Number one, we notice here that when they were at Elam led by God and everything was sweet and nice, they were happy. The minute they got to the desert of sin, everything went sideways and they got nasty, and they started complaining and being bitter. They liked it when God led them to a comfortable place, but when God led them to a place of hardship, they couldn't trust him that he had something in store for them that would be good for them. They were people of the flesh, they were carnal. They thought ease means it's good. Trouble means it must be bad. Hardship, I don't want to know about. But God not only leads us to Elam, sometimes he leads us in the desert. Sometimes it's hard. I don't need to say more. Notice that when they complained about where they were, God took it personal. When you and I grumble about what we're going through, God takes it as a complaint against him. They diverted, and this is what happens when you get frustrated and you're not being stroked the way you want, you take it out on somebody around you, your mother, your wife, your husband, your mother-in-law, your pastor, whoever, another believer. You take it out on them. It's the frustration of you don't like what's going on. We all get carnal like that. We vent against somebody else, and here they were venting against Moses and Aaron as if Moses and Aaron were moving the cloud. God was moving the cloud. God led them to that place, but they couldn't accept that. Like little children, like we all act, we get frustrated and we get angry with people. Sometimes that anger can last for years against people, and the root of it is our own carnality, that we don't like what's going down. But notice this interesting thing that God taught them through this. Moses told them, this is what the Lord is saying. When you complain because you don't like the situation I led you into, I permitted it. When you complain about that, you're not complaining about Moses and Aaron. You're complaining about me as if I don't know how to manage your life, as if I don't know what's going on, as if things have gotten beyond my control. I take that personally, God says. I'm in hardship, and I'm in the good times. I have lessons for you on the mountain, but I have lessons for you in the valley. Do I get an amen here, right? And we can be simplistic, American-driven, comfort-driven Christians. When it feels good, God is good. When it feels bad, where are you, God? And why is everybody against me? I don't want to be like that. How many want to praise him, not only in the good times, how many want to praise him when it's hard? Standing next to my brother during the worship, I was reminded that I need more grace to praise God all the time, all the time. If he can praise God tonight along with his son, I think we could all praise God, what do you think? In fact, let's do it. Let's lift our hands and just praise God. Everybody, just praise him out loud. Just praise God. Just open your mouth and praise God. We praise you, God. We praise you, God. We praise you for the good times. We praise you for the bad times. We praise you when people are mean to us. We praise you when they're nice to us. We praise you for a gift of five million dollars. And we praise you when we don't know how we're going to get through the day, Lord. We praise you. You don't change, you're God. We praise you. You may put your hands down. Lesson number two, which is simple, and then just one other point. I want you to notice that God provided the manna for them. It was thin, it was flaky, and they happened to eat it every day for 40 years. This was their food that God supplied every day. I want you to note that God said you can't keep any of it. It'll begin to rot and stink. I want you to go to bed at night with nothing in the refrigerator. I want you to go to bed at night and have nothing but my promise that I'll do it again the next morning. That's heavy. What do you think? You can't keep it. I want you to go to bed hungry. Breakfast is break fast. And I want you to just trust me. My blessings will be there. But you can't live off, here's another lesson. You can't live off of yesterday's blessing. Some people try to live off of what God did 20 years ago in their life, or 10 years ago. And you know what? It smells and it stinks. If you try to live off of what God did last week, last month, it doesn't work that day. Notice the other lesson here. God only gives us what we need for that day. He never gives me today what I need Monday. Why? Monday's gone. I can't get Monday. He never gives me now what I need tomorrow. Tomorrow he gives me what I need for tomorrow. This is an important lesson. Give us this day our weekly bread, our monthly bread. What? Grace only comes parceled out a day at a time. Sometimes an hour at a time. That's how God works. You can pray about the future, but when you get to the future, you gotta trust God for that day. Forgive us our trespasses this day. You gotta pray the same the next day. I want you to notice also that everybody had as much as they needed. Some needed more. Some needed less. What does that teach us? In life, during the different seasons of life, you'll always need God every day, but sometimes you need more of him. You need more grace. You need more power. You need extra love. Why? Because you're in a situation where you just need extra. I'm not saying you don't need him on any given day. You need him every day, but how many go through times of stress? You need the Lord extra. Oh my goodness, I've had days I didn't think I could even make it through the day without God helping me moment by moment. I remember at times when I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown, if the phone rang, I would begin to cry because my wife had surgery and hormonal level was off and she wasn't acting like herself and talking like herself and I would come home from a Tuesday prayer meeting and she was talking about not wanting to live anymore and my daughter, oldest girl, was away from the home and I still had to preach and we were still trying to start churches, but you don't think I needed extra from God at that moment? Well, of course I needed extra. And you might be here today, you needed God yesterday, but today, because of whatever went down, you need him extra. You know, Pastor Petri's gonna go to Pennsylvania and preach, he needs God today, but he might need extra from God that day because he not only has to get through the day, he has to minister to people. You need extra when you're ministering to other people. You need extra. Notice what God's promise is. Whether you need a little or a lot, whether you're on vacation in Aruba or whether you're under the gun, whatever you need, I have what you need. Do you need a lot? I have a lot. Do you need like a little less today to get through? You're just in that season? Then I give you less. But you'll have enough. The capacity is determined by our emptiness, our openness, and the stress that we're under. But whatever we need, God has it. And notice this, the person who needed more didn't have more than they needed and the person who needed less didn't have less than they needed. Everybody has whatever they need. Today, I want to declare this to you. Whatever you need today from God, God will give you exactly what you need. But I need so much. God has so much. Can we put our hands together and say amen? I don't need that much. He has what you need. The rule from God is whatever you need, I will supply all your needs. Whatever you need, I have what you need. You say, Pastor, you don't even know what I need. I don't, but whatever you need, God said, I will supply your needs. I don't need really that much. Everything's going so good. I'm just praising God. I need them today. Whatever you need, he will give it to you. There's different capacities every day for us. I want you to notice one other thing. What is this manna? We don't live, we're not Jews now. We're not living in Israel. We're not living in a desert on the way to the promised land. We're Christians in 2015. So what is the manna? What is the food? Well, there's two kinds of ways you could look at it. First of all, this is the daily food. This is the bread of life, amen. But in another way, Jesus is the bread of life. Well, we partake of Jesus many times when we read the word. When you read it the right way and the Holy Spirit makes it alive, you're actually drinking in more of Jesus. You're eating more of Christ as you meditate on his promises and you get stronger. Oh, brothers and sisters, don't let the devil keep any of us from the word of God. This is our daily food, amen. And when you feel your spirit getting thin, my wife turned to me the other day and she said, I can't go on with the day. Please read me a passage of scripture. That's the way it is some day. And when you're feeling that longing, you got to stop and get the word of God in you. A ham sandwich will not supply. No matter what food you eat, it will not satisfy. Your spirit, not your belly, your spirit is hungry. So feed it with the word of God. Come on, let's say amen to that. Amen to that. Just like the natural man needs food, the spiritual man needs food. But you can look at it also this way. In prayer, we receive more of the Lord, more of the Holy Spirit. There's continual new infillings, visitations of the Holy Spirit. Well, how much? Whatever you need, whatever you want. We have as much of God as we want. God's not stingy, he's not holding back and saying, no, I don't want to give you any more. He'll give us whatever we need. If we ask greatly, we'll receive greatly. According to your faith, so be it unto you. So whatever we need of Jesus, more of Jesus today, I want to look at it that way. On a daily basis, yes, the word. But we're here gathered now, we've heard the word, but more of Jesus. I want you to just notice one other thing. Here's where all the manna was. I'm an Israelite, I'm in the tent. I'm here with my wife, and they come and they yell to me early in the day. God did it again. He did it again. What did he do? The manna's out there. The manna's on the ground. Oh, praise God. God is faithful. That's what I needed to do. You gotta do more than praise God that he's faithful. Notice what the command was. Every morning, you gotta go out and get it. You gotta get up and go out and get it. You're not earning it, it's already there, but you gotta pick it up. A lot of people are just praising God. Isn't he faithful? And they're starving to death. They don't have the grace they need. They don't have the power they need. They don't have the strength they need. They're always grumpy. They don't have the joy they need. They don't have the peace they need. Why? Because God isn't faithful? No, it's there. In another analogy, another metaphor, you know, he has set a table for me. What good is a table if you don't sit down and eat? My friend Steve Renee, he makes the best steaks. I didn't want pictures of his steak. I want to sit down and eat his steak. So here's what God said. Every morning, you gotta go out and get it. This is what some of us aren't doing. We're not going out and get it. It's there. How much? Whatever you need. If you need a lot, get a lot. You just need a little today, then get whatever you need. But notice you had to go out. How often? Every single day. It's there. He'll supply. Notice this other thing. To get it, you had to go down and bend over. That's a good picture. Whoever humbles himself, the Lord will lift him up. God didn't put it on trees. He put it on the ground so that we would have to bend down. Oh, praise God. As we bend down, Lord, I humble myself before you. I need something today from you. It's there, brothers. It's there, sisters. When I think of it, shame on me. When you live short of what God has for you, when you're short of the Holy Spirit, when you're short on patience, when you're short on all these things, shame on us. It's out there. It's on the ground. What if a guy starved to death sitting in a tent? He just lost 30 pounds in the last 45 days. He's starving to death. I don't know what God's gonna, I don't know why I'm just, you know, I'm just starving to death here. Get out of your tent and go out where the manna is. Pick the thing up. God gave it to you. But if you stay in your tent complaining or analyzing it, it won't help you. You gotta get up and eat it. Go and get it. Is this meaning anything to anybody here tonight? Come on, let's put our hands together. So, the Bible is full of truth. If I don't pick it up and read it, it's as if I'm an atheist. Won't help me. Oh, the word of God, I love it. The question is, do you love it? Do you read it? Do you eat it? Do you have a meal every day? I should get more amens than that. That was a profound thought. Do we eat it every day? Someone told me, I have like seven different translations. I said, do you read them? He goes, not so much. Well, then what good is having seven translations? It's food, you gotta eat it. And tonight, God is here. I know he's here. You know what he's here? He's here to feed us. Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. You know why this song means so much to me? They sang this at our wedding reception. And you know what happened? While her dad was singing this song, the Spirit of God came in our reception. I was in the business world. She was working for Sterling Drugs as a receptionist on Park Avenue. And somebody began to prophesy over us about all these things were gonna travel around the world and be used by God. And I'm going, what are you talking, what in the world? But we knew there was something in it. I cried like a baby. Cried like a baby. Cried like a baby. And then we went to Hawaii, and I was still crying when I got alone in Hawaii. Like, God, what are you doing? But this has stayed with me. Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Bread of heaven, come and feed my thirsting soul. Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Father, as we get ready to dismiss, I hold up, I look at this card and it speaks to me, Lord. And I pray that between now and Friday, the end of the week, you will lead us to someone that we can love in Christ's name. That we can minister Christ, we can encourage, we can invite them to church. God, use us as you continually fill us and fill us. We want it to flow out to others. Otherwise, it becomes stale and rotten. We're just seeking for ourselves. But we're seeking for ourselves to be a blessing to others, Lord. So give us boldness where we're shy. Give us wisdom to know when to be quiet, when to speak, what questions to ask. Arrange situations in restaurants or dry cleaners or stores, schools, where we live, relatives. Time is late. Jesus is coming. Lord, just a little longer, please, Jesus. Just a few more days to get our loved ones in. Just a little longer, please, Jesus. A few more days for those wandering out in sin. Use us now. We've received, we're blessed. We praise you. We're gonna walk home so happy, drive home, take a train, bus home. But keep us alert now. Keep us alert. So that we can speak words of life into someone's heart. Bind us together in love, we pray this all in Jesus' name. And everyone said. Amen. While the band plays something, would you just tenderly hug one another? Say something good to one another. Love on one another.