From the Pen of Pastor Joe: Give God What You Have

A post-Sunday write-up from Sunday's service, November 1, 2026
From the pen of Pastor Joe
Part 1 of "Revite Invite"
Scripture Focus: 1 Kings 17:8-16

Introduction: The Threshold of a New Season

Church family, today marks the beginning of a historic chapter in the life of our congregation. We are launching a bold, faith-stretching, two-year journey called Revite Invite. The vision is clear, urgent, and God-sized: to revitalize our ministries and double our church in every single way—in our discipleship, our outreach, our impact, our online presence and our numbers.

But when we talk about doubling and revitalization, it is easy to look around, look at our current resources, and feel overwhelmed. We look at what we don't have.

Today, we are turning to the pages of Scripture to see exactly how God moves when His people are facing scarcity. In 1 Kings 17, a severe drought has crippled the land. The brooks have dried up. The economy has collapsed. The bottom has dropped out. And in the middle of this crisis, God calls His prophet Elijah to move, and He calls a desperate widow to step out in radical faith.

Through their story, God gives us the ingredients for the miracle we are asking Him to perform in our church over the next two years.

1. God Provides in Miraculous Ways

The text opens in the middle of a famine, a time when human logic says survival is impossible. Yet, God commands Elijah to go because He already has a plan in place. Our God is not limited by our economic climates, our cultural shifts, or our limitations. When resources dry up, God's sovereignty does not. He does not need a surplus to create a breakthrough; He specializes in creating supply where there is absolute emptiness.

2. God Provides in Unlikely Places

God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath. If you look at a map, Zarephath was a Gentile territory, a stronghold of Baal worship. It was the last place a Jewish prophet would look for safety or sustenance. But God delights in bypassing our expectations. God will intentionally place your provision in an unlikely environment so that He alone gets the glory. If you are looking for God to only work in familiar, comfortable ways, you will miss the destination where He has commanded your blessing.

3. God Provides Using Unlikely People

When Elijah arrives at the town gate, his source of provision isn't a wealthy merchant or a powerful ruler. It is a poor, foreign widow, gathering sticks. In the ancient world, widows were the most vulnerable, marginalized people in society. She had no status, no safety net, and no excess. Yet, this is the person God chose to sustain His prophet. God does not look for the most qualified; He looks for the available. He bypasses the proud and powerful to use the unlikely, ensuring we know the miracle is by His hand, not human strength.

4. God Provides Through Those Who Give the Little They Have

Elijah asks her for water and a piece of bread. Her response is heartbreaking: "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug." She was preparing to bake one final meal for herself and her son and then lie down to die.

Elijah gives a staggering command: "Don't be afraid... first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son."

This wasn't Elijah being selfish; it was a test of priority. God was asking her to give out of her lack, not her abundance. A miracle requires us to surrender our "handful" before we ever see the overflow. She had to empty her jar in the prophet's hands while the drought was still raging.

5. God Multiplies What is Given

The widow obeys. She takes the little she has and gives it to God. Look at the result in verses 15–16: "So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry."

God took a single, desperate meal and multiplied it into a daily, ongoing supply that outlasted the famine. When you give God what you have, your meager subtraction becomes His miraculous multiplication. What is insignificant in your hands becomes infinite when placed in His hands.

AMEN!

Introducing the Revite Invite 2-Year Plan

Church, this is the theological foundation for our Revite Invite initiative. Over the next two years, as we set out to revitalize our house and double our reach, we are standing before God just like this widow. We might look at our current time, our current finances, and our current leaders and say, "Lord, we only have a handful."

But our two-year plan isn't based on what we can do; it's based on what He can multiply. We are asking every member of this family to stop looking at what we lack and start offering what we possess. We are going to invest heavily in our church ministries, remodel our outreach systems, expand our online and local footprints, and intentionally invite our neighbors into this space. We are giving God our "handful" of effort, prayer, and finances, believing that over the next 24 months, our jars will not run dry and our pews will be filled.

Take-Away Action Steps for the Week Ahead

To activate this message in your life and join this movement today, commit to these three action steps this week:

Audit Your "Handful": Take inventory of the time, talents, and financial resources you currently possess. Stop discounting them because they seem small. Identify the exact "flour and oil" you can bring to God's house.

Give to God First:  Practice    the principle of the priority seed. Before you fund your comfort or feed your fears, dedicate your first fruits—your best hours of prayer, your primary serving gifts, and your consistent tithing—to the vision of the church.

Extend the Invite: The widow had to move past her isolation to connect with the prophet. This week, identify one person in your circle who is spiritually dry or facing a personal drought, and intentionally invite them to join you for Part 2 of this series next Sunday.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are the God of Zarephath, the God who sees the empty jars and the dry fields and yet commands a blessing anyway. We stand before You today at the starting line of this Revite Invite journey. We confess that in our own strength, doubling in every way seems impossible. But we choose to step out in faith. We bring You our handful of flour and our little drop of oil. We surrender our time, our gifts, our finances, and our hearts to Your house. Do what only You can do, Lord. Multiply our obedience, revitalize our spirits, and bring in a harvest of souls that changes our city forever. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen.

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