That's the first step. First Kings 17 and verse 9. He's talking to Elijah here. He said, get down there, boy, I got something for you to do. He said, verse nine, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. There's a famine going on. There's not any food, there's not anything to eat or drink. No wine, no nothing. And I'm talking about wine, I'm talking about grape juice, amen, I'm talking about welches, amen. But at any rate, there's a famine in the land, they're starving to death. And so he said, you get down there and I got a widow woman that will take care of you. So here he goes. So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there, gathering two of sticks, and he called to her and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. He said, bring me some bread too. And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise. And behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. She said, this is it. It's a little left. She said, this is all we got left. And I can't bake you a cake, sir. This is all I've got. I'm going to fix a little cake for me and my son. And when we eat it, we're going to die because we don't have anything else in the house. We don't have anything else anywhere. And look at the gall of this preacher. Verse 14, for thus said the Lord God of Israel, Elijah said to her, 13, fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me a little cake there first. He said, all right, you're gonna fix it and eat it and die, okay, but make me a cake first. I mean, Olsteen couldn't even get by with that. And bring it unto me after I make for thee and thy son. She said, I just told you I don't have enough for you and my son too. It's either we get it and die or you get it and we die. Verse 14 says, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meals shall not waste, neither shall the crews of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did eat many days. and the barrel of meat wasted not. Neither did the crews of all fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. This is some woman, this is one of the greatest stories in the Bible, as far as I'm concerned. It's her story. You say, Brother Jim, she didn't do all that much. Well, what she did, God said right in his book. Amen, he put it in his Bible, and it's forever settled in heaven, because it's the word of God. They said it's forever settled up there. She's our example, brother and sister. She's a hero of the faith. She is one of our heroes. That's why God wrote her name down. Do you know what she was famous for, girls? Not her makeup. Not her hair. Not her figure. Not her clothes. She was famous for baking. Amen. Want to do something for God? Oh, no, brother Jim, it's not her baking, it was her faith. Yeah, she had faith, all right. But what if he told her to do something she didn't know how to do? What if God told one of your girls to make a cake tonight, could you bake one? You better learn how. Mom and Dad, you better teach those kids to cook. They'll want husbands one day and they'll get hungry. I don't care how pretty you are, your husband will get hungry after a while. Pretty will wear off, but hunger will stay with you. You need to learn to cook. If God needed a cake back here now, could we count on you? I heard a guy say one time that their house's wife cooked so bad, he said they prayed after they ate. He said the flies, many at the hole of the screen door, trying to save their kids, amen? Amen. He said his wife made a marble cake one night and the whole family took it for granted. Amen. A Greenville newspaper said a happy woman will gain 16 pounds in the first 13 years of marriage. You know why? Because she's cooking. She's cooking for her family. She's learned to cook. She does things. Amen. Everybody gain a little bit now and then. Amen. But that's only part of the story, brother and sister. The cake here is just part of it. Her faith to step out. Brother Jerry just preached about it. Get up! She had faith to step out and do what God said to do, and she believed God. You know what we used to say? We used to say back home, and I guess you country folks did here too, but we always said, if I knew you was coming, I'm gonna bake the cake. If we knew He was coming, well listen, Jesus Christ is coming. So if you're gonna step out on faith and try something for Him, you best be about it. She had faith to step out and do what God, what He asked her to do is impossible. She couldn't feed Him and them with what she had in her hand. She tried the impossible and she pulled it off. Bible said, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Well, now's your chance, church. Listen, nobody escapes this one. I don't care if you're 105 or if you're four years old, everybody in between, you get a chance. You can step out and try something for God. And you ought to try something you don't think you're capable of doing. She didn't think she could do that. It was impossible for her to do it. but she stepped out and tried anyway. When's the last time you stepped out and tried something you didn't think you could do? How about at church when they need somebody to help? Well, I couldn't do that. Well, why don't you give it a try? When's the last time that you tried to do something for God knowing that you were going to have to sacrifice to do it? She sacrificed her little boy's only food to try to do something for God. When are you going to step out and try? When's the last time you tried that? When's the last time you tried to do the impossible? Something you don't think you're capable of, but you tried anyway. Well, if you're going to do it, you better do it in a hurry, because he's coming. If you're going to step out and try something for God, He is coming. So I'll preach for just a few minutes tonight. If I knew He was coming, I would have baked the cake, Lord. Amen. I want you to notice, number one, I want you to notice the problem. Her problem is she wasn't the best candidate to do something for God. She probably was one of the worst candidates in town, but she tried it anyway. She was not the best candidate. You say, Brother Jim, I couldn't try something for God. You don't know my past. She wasn't the best candidate either. You don't know where I've been. You don't know what I've done. Hey, you can step out and try to make a case. Amen. She wasn't the best candidate. Her past was against her. Notice she got no husband there. Verse 12, she's a widow. And her son was likely illegitimate. You see that verse 18 there? She said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? Chances are good that kid was illegitimate. Chances are good she didn't think she wasn't supposed to do. Chances are she was a poor candidate to step out and do something for God. But God said, I'll use her. The Baptist brethren want to use her. I got Baptist, they want to crucify her. But God said, give her a chance. God don't call the qualified. He qualifies the call. And if God calls you to do something, he'll give you the grace and strength to do it. You say, I don't think I can. She didn't think she could either. But she did it. She gave it a try. Don't ever think your past disqualifies you. Well, most of the proper women in that town wouldn't have done it. Most of the proper women in that town wouldn't have gave him that last meal. The Mary, that anointed Christ, head with oil, wiped it with her hair and her tears, she was not the best woman in town. She wasn't the best candidate to do that job, but she did it. She got something done for God. The woman at the well wasn't the best candidate. He said, call your husband. She said, well, I don't have a husband. He said, yeah, you said that right, because you've had five. And the one you got right now ain't your husband. I mean, she was faster than Elizabeth Taylor. Tell me why that? Stand by your man. She'd stand by your man if you turned your back for a minute. Amen. The woman at the well was not the best prospect. Paul was a terrible man to use to write most of the New Testament. He killed and imprisoned all the early Christians. Put them in jail, had them beat, had them stoned, had them whipped. He was not the best candidate to write most of your New Testament. But he's the one God called, and he's the one God used. You know what God calls and uses? Sinners. Not only that, she was broke. Probably the poorest woman in town. Don't you think you're too poor to do something for God? That disqualifies. Well, my house ain't much, and my clothes aren't much, and I don't have the best stuff. Hey, that don't disqualify you from trying something for God. Why don't you step up? When's the last time you stepped out? Better start something. And she was alone. I guess he died. I don't know when he died. Maybe left and then died. Yeah, she had some problems, that's for sure. But hard times are harder when you're alone. And I understand no Christian ever will be if he has Christ. But some of the folks in the church are trying to serve God on their own alone. It's harder on them, brother and sister. It helps to have a partner. It helps to have somebody with you. It's tough. Doctors say that loneliness is the most damaging factor of death. It hurts more people than anything else. I guess the one left by their self. He said, most damaging factor. Dr. Thomas Lynch at Johns Hopkins University reported saying, he said, it's the number one physical killer of people in the world is loneliness. Wow. That's our prayer. Those of you who lost people, Those of you who maybe is living by yourself now and somebody's already gone to be with the Lord, I pray to God to help you not be lonely. I pray to God to keep you company. I pray he'll encourage you. I pray he'll be a help to you. Lord, help them through lonely times. It's different. Amen. I see folks in our church in the pew, and I'm not gonna call names, because y'all are live streaming, aren't you? But I see folks in our church in the pew. Like I said, we lost six people just during COVID, but we've lost a lot of people through the years, like Brother Jerry's talking about. And I see Ms. So-and-so sits right there in our church. She got that great big old house over across the road, man, got a mansion over there across the road. And she's over in that big old house by herself every night now, because the Lord took her husband home. One of the best men I had. I mean a man you couldn't do without. And she'll go over there and she'll get her little supper fixed and she'll wander around there and a little get in that big old bed by herself and stay in that house by herself and go to sleep. We got them all over our church doing that. Brother and sister, pray for them. You know they're not at the dinner table. They're not in the living room. They're not in the bedroom. Did you know people will almost never be there when you need them the most? People almost never, they have a knack for not being where you need them. But God, He'll always be there. You can count on Him. If you're saved by the grace, you can count on Him. He'll be there. He'll be there where nobody else is. What can I do, Brother Jim? I'd get busy if I was you. I'd try something for God. I'd try something I didn't think I could do. Try something I've never tried before, I'm not capable of. Why don't you step out and give it a try tonight? This woman was unqualified by any standards. But she's the one that God used. Alone, poor, her past. Listen, don't let anybody tell you you can't. You're not too old to try. You seniors in the building, don't quit now. You say, well, I've done this a lot of years. I'm going to step aside and let some of the younger folks have it. No, not now. Younger folks don't know anything. You've lived your whole life, you know how to do stuff now. You know the right way to do it. We need you. We need you to stay in there and try something for God. Amen. When you're young, just a kid like we were, like these kids are, you don't know anything, but you can do it all day. Then when you get older like us and you learn to do things, you don't have to get up and go do it anymore. Amen. Don't do it. But notice, I want you to notice, she was not qualified by any standard. But she's the one God said, give her a try. And notice this too. Look at the preacher's prescription there, verse 13. Roger said, if you're not going to do as I said, but make me there of a little cake first. He said, put me first. My soul, brother and sister, how many of you would have made it through that? How many of you got a little kid here and a preacher come up to you and said, yeah, it don't look good for y'all. You're probably going to starve to death, but make me a little cake before you do your kid. How many of you would have made it through that service? You'd have had a business meeting at the church that night to get rid of that preacher. Amen. Selfish, make me one first. Arrogant. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. I heard you say you're gonna die. Make me a cake. Heartless? Don't you care about my kid? She didn't know what God was doing. And you don't know what God's trying to do either. You say, Brethren, that's heartless, selfish, arrogant. Yeah, and it was just exactly what God ordered. Oh, you better get that down, brother. Things don't always look like they ought to look, but sometimes God's doing a work that you can't see. You better get a hold of that. Just exactly what God ordered, that was God's perfect will, that she put the preacher in front of her little kid and herself. Let me ask you, have you ever put God ahead of everyone? You know why I pray for our grandkids, those little monsters we got down the hill there? I pray, God, please help them to always love you better than anything or anyone. I pray that you've got to love God better than you love anybody in this building. And when you get there, God can use you. God lets you do something then. What a request. Hey, make me a cake. She said, I don't have a cake. It's not enough for us. We're going to starve to death. OK, make me a cake first. Most people would get off the bus right there. Most people wouldn't have put up with that. Most people would have said, this stinking preacher, he can make his own cake. And you would have never seen the glory of God. You would have never seen what she saw. You would have never had your name in the book. God would have never wrote about you because you wouldn't let any preacher talk to you like that. Amen! Okay, then make me a cake. He didn't say, since you have a 10 pound meal, go ahead and make me a little cake. He didn't say that. He said, I want you to take what little you've got, which is almost dust, and make me a cake. I want you to do that first. She went to the barrow. and did it. He didn't tell Brother Earl Hughes. He said, Brother Earl Hughes, you're starting out in evangelism now, and since you've got such a nice car, big Cadillac, I want you to go into evangelism and travel everywhere and preach. He didn't tell Brother Earl that, because Brother Earl didn't have a car. He didn't have a way of getting a car. But God told him to go into evangelism. He packed his duds and a knapsack on his back and started hitchhiking to meetings. They called him the hobo evangelist. And he hitchhiked until God gave him the money to get a car, one of the best preachers I ever heard. I mean, he's a legend around our place. Great preacher. He said a guy picked him up one day in a brand new Mercedes, almost new. Picked him up in that Mercedes and he said, where you going, sir? He said, I'm an evangelist, I'm going to preach a meeting. He said, you walking? He said, well, I'm hitchhiking. He said, how do you figure God's called you to do that when He didn't even give you a car and you're out here walking? He said, it seems to me God's not in that. Brother Earl says, well, it just depends on how you look at it, sir. He said, the way I look at it, he said, God gave me a brand new Mercedes today and a chauffeur to drive me. Amen. Amen. Amen. He didn't tell a boy, a widow, he said, since you have a hundred mites, would you put two mites in the offering plate and just see what God does? No, two mites is all she had. And she put it in a plate and God blessed her for it. He didn't say give something out of your abundance. He said, give all you got. And I'm not talking about money now. I'm talking about the will to do something for God. Amen. He didn't tell Ms. Gayle. He said, look, since Jim has such a nice car and has a job waiting on him in Pensacola and a nice house, why don't you and him go to Bible school at PBI? And so we took off. I didn't have a car. I didn't have a job waiting on me. I didn't have a house waiting on me in Pensacola. We went down there hoping my brother had a place where we could live long enough to get us. I moved her down to Pensacola. We left town on a Greyhound bus. No car, no nothing. I hitchhiked 20 miles into town to work the first few weeks I was at Bible school. Hitchhike in, hitchhike back. Little trailer house out in Beulah with about 180 inside in the summer. No electricity and no water at first. No air conditioning, no nothing. I said, what was that? We thought God wanted us to try it. And I don't know how in the world she did it. I wouldn't have went anywhere with a loser like that. But she did. And she stayed with me. If you get you one of them boys, you'll have you something one day. Amen. He didn't say because you got this much, you can go ahead and give me a little bit. He said, no, give me what you got and watch what I can do with it. He said, why don't you try to bake a cake for me? The Lord talking to him. God was about to bless her beyond her wildest dreams. But you know what he said? He said, put my man here first. Oh boy, that cuts doesn't it? I've heard so much of this man of God stuff, I'm about sick of it. Some men of God think they're above everybody in the church. They don't put their pants on one leg at a time, they just jump in them off the bed. But there's something to taking care of God's man. And God's give you a good one, you better take care of him. She got through the worst tribulation she'd ever been in because she took care of the preacher. You do well to remember that in the days ahead. Take care of the one God gave you. Amen. She did it. She baked the cake for the Lord. I like that. She didn't hesitate either. She didn't say, well, let me meet with the deacons. See if we can afford this. Let me get Budget and Finance in on this to see what we can come up with. No, she wouldn't bake the cake. Yeah. God says, I want you to try it. Give her a try. Yeah, it's good. Some of you in here tonight, it's been forever since you tried anything before the Lord stepped down. You're saved. Some of you are. I hope all of you are, but I figure somebody's probably not. But you've been saved for years. And I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm not trying to kick you. Some of you are not any more spiritual this year than you was last year. That's right. That's right. Some of you are not any more spiritual this year than you was five years ago. Don't you think it's time you stepped out and put one in the oven? You said, Lord, if you want me to try, I'll try. When's the last time you stepped out and tried something you didn't think you could do? Impossible for you to do. It was impossible for her to feed him and them. But she did it. Say, Brother Jim, you don't know us. You talk to us like that. We're not more spiritual than we was a year ago. I know people. I know my church, and my church is just like you. I got folks in there that hadn't stepped out on faith in years. God's been so good to them, they're spoiled. Amen. When's the last time you stepped out and tried something? Something you have to sacrifice something for. Maybe sacrifice some time. Maybe sacrifice some money. I don't know. But why don't you take a look at God's provision. Bible said they all ate out of that barrel. The meal never wasted. The oil never failed, not one time. You know, Brother Jerry, I don't believe, when she went to that barrel that day and fixed that cake, and the next day he said, go back and fix another one. And there was enough in that barrel, every day she went back there. There was always enough in that barrel to do another one. And you know, I don't believe the barrel was ever full. I don't believe God ever filled it up. I think every day there's enough in there to do another day. And every day there's enough of the grace of God for you to get through another day, for you to go a little further for God. I think there'll always be enough in the barrel. He'll always have enough grace and kindness. Just keep going to the barrel. I don't think it was ever full. If it had been full, I think she would have got cocky. If it had been full, I don't think she would have prayed the next day. We got prayer food now. I don't think it was ever full. I think every day there's enough in there to go another round. That's what I believe. Every day, there's enough to make a cake. Brother Jim, I look at what I got, my talent, my money, my time, my knowledge, and I don't think I have much Maybe not, but you got enough to make a little cake. Why don't you step out and try it? You say, I don't know what it'd be, Brother Jim. Well, just find you a spot up here and say, God, I don't know what it is. But if you want me to try, I'll try. Yeah, that's good. What God wants is you to be willing. Yeah. Would you be willing to do that tonight? Right. Every time she looked in that barrel, there was enough. Nansen, I think it was Nansen, the Arctic Explorer, I think they had to have 35 fathoms of water to sail their ship in. And they had a guy, as they would go into the Arctic, they had a guy that would go out on the boat with this big, heavy line and weight, and he would sound. He would sound the water to see how deep it was, and he would report to them. Twenty fathoms, thirty fathoms, forty fathoms. But as they was going in there, Nancy said, you check it close. And they got in there. He said, can we make it? He sounded. He said, thirty-five fathoms, Captain, and deeper still. He said, oh, it's deep enough and deeper still. He said, what about the grace of God? It's deep enough and deeper still. You can go as far as you want to go with it. He'll always have more, more than what you can use. We've been to that bar at our church a thousand times. They told us we wanted to build a, we wanted to build a, like a $5,000 room on our church. Back then you could do it for 5,000. And we had deacons that said, look, we're paying $150 a month right now. We can't pay no more. I said, well, I think that's what God wants us to do. They said, we don't have the money. I said, I wasn't looking to you. looking to the Lord. We built a new building. We built another new building. We built another new building. We built 11 new buildings down at camp. I'm a part-time pastor and construction manager. We paid off almost a million and a half dollars worth of debt since I've been there, $1.5 million. And we have never been in the red one time. We've never not had enough. It's 35 fathoms and deeper still. God always have what you need. First Sunday I went there, I looked on that little Baptist board they have. Y'all ain't got one, have you? A little Baptist board up there, it tells the attendance and the offering. The offering was only like $160 a week before. Man, that deacon would turn over his grave today if he knew what we paid. We paid over 5,000 a month, just the note payments. Besides the other stuff, God's been good to us. Our church offerings have always been enough. Our church camp, we've always had enough. When we needed a new church, we had enough. When we wanted to support missions and build an Indian church on the reservation, we had enough. When we wanted to build like a youth camp, build some buildings on it, we had enough. We've always had enough, and it's deeper still. I think I told you this last time I was here, but it amazes me every time I think about it. But when we went into COVID, we had $60,000 in the bank, our church. And we want a new van for 30,000. And one of the deacons said, well, why don't we just pay cash for it? Why go get a note? We got the cash. We'll have some more by then. So we went and paid. We had $30,000 left. And it takes a lot of money to run our place. We had $30,000 left. And then COVID hit. We didn't get to go to church for six weeks. 85 of our people got COVID one Sunday. I mean, we had people all, we had people dying, we had people sick. We couldn't even have church for six weeks. We'd have to have it outside most of the time when we did have it. We couldn't even take up an offering. I told my wife, I said, my God, this couldn't happen at a worse time. We ain't got no money in the bank. And we can't tell you when to offer it. So I just gave people the church's address. I said, look, if you want to offer this, send it in the mail. That's the best we can do. And man, we went for a year like that. And I asked my secretary one day, and she hadn't called me. And no news is good news. She didn't call me yet, so I said, man, we must be doing all right. And I called her, and I said, Ms. Annette, I mean, Ms. Lissette, I said, what do we got in the bank right now? She said, right today, Brother Jim, we have $175,000. And I said, where'd that come from? She said, it just comes in the mail. Amen, brother. Since then, we spent $100,000 on the Indian Reservation building we built this past year. We spent $225,000 on a piece of land we wanted to buy. We paid cash for every bit of it. I checked with the secretary before I came. I said, what do we got in the bank? She said, about $480,000. Where did that come from? It's 35 fathoms and deeper still. You just need to step out and try something and watch what God does. It's not always financial. Sometimes it's spiritual. Sometimes it's talent. Give it a try. I didn't say that to brag on our church. I said that to brag on the Lord that takes care of our church. Amen. There's a lot of places a half million dollars wouldn't be no money. Some of them churches would laugh at that. Old Steve would laugh at that. His wife probably gets more than that to do her nails every week. with his big old grinning smile, toothy smile. I hate, we hate that over the hills. We hate anybody with a full set of teeth where we come from. But every time she looked in that barrel, there was more. Every need supplies. And deeper still, you say, Brother Jim, I want that for my wife. I want that for our church. I want that for my kids, for my family. I want that kind of blessing. Then you better get started on your cake. You better go try to bake him a cake. Say, what is it? I don't have a clue what God would have you step out and try. But you ought to let him know you're available. Let him know you're willing. Amen. I want that for my life, brother Jim. Okay. Before your spouse, you put the Lord. Before your kids, put them there. Before your grandkids, that's a big deal. Put the Lord first. Grandkids are a prize the Lord gives you for not killing your kids. Amen. Before your job, Put the Lord first. Before your desire, here's a big one. Put the Lord in front of your desire. It'll help you. My brothers are roadsters, weren't they? One of my brothers drove a Greyhound and the other drove a truck over a road, and they loved to ramble. You couldn't settle him down. You couldn't settle Harry down. They wanted to ramble all the time. And it's in the blood. Chandlers always wants to see what's over the next hill or what's around the next curve. We've always been that way. But when I got called to pastor church, I had to sit there. I sometimes envied them. They got just run all over the country. And I started passionate. I got locked down, tied down to a church. And I said, well, I'm just going to have to give that up. Because I'm going to stay here and do what God had me do. And my soul, I've ran all the way around the world, all over the United States of America. I've traveled more than 10 of them could have traveled. Just give it to God. And he'll give you the desires of your heart. Amen. I got the news on Saturday morning that my mama was dying. You remember that, Brenda Kay? I still can't talk about her. Talk about her tears me up. I love her and I love my daddy. I preached their funerals three days apart back in 1997. And we lost both of them in three days. And they gave me news on Saturday night that my mom might be dying and you need to be here. Well, I didn't have anybody preach that Sunday morning, but that's not important. I could have gave it to somebody else. But you know what I thought? I thought the Lord wanted me to stay there and preach and do what I was supposed to do. And then I would leave Monday and go see mama. That was my thinking. And I took off Monday to see mama and she died before I got there. And here you get to see her. I saw her at Christmas. I didn't get to see her then. Broke my heart. I didn't think about it. And you know that Sunday morning I stayed and preached? Nothing happened. I didn't preach no great sermon. The choir didn't tear the place up. Nobody was jumping pews. Nobody got saved. I don't even know if anybody got right. You think, well, you should have went. No. I think somewhere the Lord was pleased that I stayed and did what I thought He wanted me to do. I still believe that to this day. And I know what Mama would have said. She'd say, you preach, son. I know what Daddy would have said. Do what God told you to do. That's what they would have said. Sometimes you gotta put the Lord in front of everything And I don't know if I did the right thing or not I still ain't 100% sure but I did what I thought the Lord wanted me to do Nothing I know of really happened. Let me ask you tonight Who would step out? We're gonna have a revival this week. Who would step out? Say Lord, I'll try Try what? I don't know Just say, Lord, I'm willing to try. I want those blessings for my life, I want them for my church, I want them for my home, I want them for my marriage. Lord, I'll try. Looks like I can't do it, but if you say try, I'll try. Who step out tonight and start the revival? Who say, Lord, you first? You know he's coming. Why haven't you baked a cake? It's been a great message and I believe it's all we've got to be full. God's been good to us.