The Overflow: “The Facts of Life”

The Overflow
The Facts of Life
9/14/25
Pastor Mark England

1 Kings 17-8-16 (CSB) Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” ¹⁰ So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath.

Life is full of ups and downs… we are taught that this is just a .

Can Christians experience God’s when everything around them is in a ?

Elijah is told by God to leave Israel and enter Baal-worshiping Sidon, and he will be provided for by the person in town—a .

Obedience to God rests on one truth: “.”

God’s rarely match human ;
God often issues “abnormal ” to set up “abnormal .”

Isaiah 55:8-9 (CSB) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. ⁹ “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If you’re looking for you will walk away from your .

The comfortable voice in your head that is telling you to do what you already want to do is . That’s why it .

Stop trying to get God to forge His signature on our .

It doesn’t have to make sense to be set up for a .

1 Kings 17:10-13 (CSB) When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” ¹¹ As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.”

The widow is at her breaking point and God is asking her to what she .

God will until the end because He is setting you up for a .
God does His best work when you are out of and you need Him the .

We must go to The .

Elijah asks first for water (common ) then bread (costly ).

The widow already said she didn’t have any bread. Why would God ask you to give something that you ? No hope, no joy, no belief.

The widow , but she had and …
The to it.
As Christians, you have the to make it even if you don’t have the .

The ingredients are…
.
The empowerment of the .
Fervent, faith-filled .

Take your and go to the .

Even when you are in a , He calls you to bring your ingredients.

1 Kings 17:13-16 (CSB) ¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son…

While you’re still hungry, scared, and lacking, take your ingredients to the . God wants you to give it to Him .

God is not interested in being , He doesn’t care what !

He demands to be !
He is not your spare tire when life goes flat. He wants to be in everything!

God must be , even in my .

Leviticus 23:17 (CSB) Bring two loaves of bread from your settlements as a presentation offering, each of them made from four quarts of fine flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits to the Lord.

Putting God second forfeits the .
First placement declares Him and .

1 Kings 17:14 (CSB) for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’”

“If it’s not yet, God’s not yet”

Romans 8:28 (CSB) We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Philippians 1:6 (CSB) I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 40:31(CSB) but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.

From the Bakery of Obedience, God gives daily and the promise of .

Deuteronomy 28:12 (CSB) The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse, the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

God does not drop baked loaves; He ingredients, requiring to the Bakery of Obedience.

“The bowl will not run empty…until the Lord sends rain.”
Rain = abundance, restoration, opening heaven’s windows, and !