robsingleton.net

21 June 2007

Out of the Overflow

It’s 5:20 am right now and I couldn’t sleep.

It’s a good thing.

You ever have one of those mornings where you’re just overcome with the joy of the Lord? Where God wakes you up just to talk?

No, I’m not nuts.

At least not for that reason.

Well, I am having one of those mornings right now and I thought I’d let you in on it because you all are actually a part of it.

The reason for it?

You see, I can’t believe I get to pastor a church so FLAT OUT AWESOME as Southbrook!

Really.

Quit waiting for the other shoe to fall.

That’s it.

Here’s the passage I was reading today during my quiet time with the Lord,

1 One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied. 3 And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” 5 So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. 6 Soon every container was full to the brim!

Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over (emphasis added).”

I discovered over the years that the Lord seldom wakes me in the middle of the night (yes, I consider 5:20 am the middle of the night!) just to give me a warm fuzzy. I wouldn’t trade those joyous moments of connecting with Him for anything, I’m just saying that I try to perk up at such times because something of importance is usually coming and it’s not the time to go all ADHD on God.

And this passage just happened to come up in my Q.T. book for today (yeah, right – I think God rearranged the pages while I was sleeping!). Actually, a good friend of mine presented this same passage to me a couple of weeks ago and said he really felt the Lord was prodding Him to share it with me.

Did you hear me?

It was the same exact passage!

God was speaking to me!

And there’s something for you in this too so sober up and give me an ear (or in this case, an eye).

You see friends, Southbrook is being blessed right now (tremendously) and God’s favor rests upon us. Many Christians spend their whole lives hoping for this (although that’s sad because God wants every believer to live like this and it’s readily available – but that’s another post for another day) yet we are living it! And, obediently we are gathering jars right and left in order to receive the blessing of God.

Over the years you all have stepped up to:

Lead small groups
Tithe financially to support ministry through SCC
Free up seats at the 10:00and 11:30services
Stepped up to be a part of a multi-site campus
Faithfully started, grown and lead various ministries at the church (men’s, women’s, youth, facilities, landscaping, worship, children’s ministries, and on and on).
Given above and beyond your tithes and offerings in order to grow our physical facilities
Served one another
Put others first
Loved the Lord your God with all your heart mind and strength
Loved your neighbors, family, co-workers as yourself

You all are easy to love greatly because you love so greatly.

God asks you to, ‘Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.’ And you do it.

That’s why we have received His blessing so abundantly. But God isn’t through with us. In fact, I believe He’s just getting started. I know I say that a lot, but perhaps this will help you understand why I know it’s true…

Zoom in on this one particular part of the above text…

Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. There aren’t any more!”he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

I believe what the Lord woke me up this morning to tell me is this;

Southbrook church has been blessed tremendously, yes, but I want to do much more than you can ask or even imagine (see this verse for more about that) And Rob, I want to do this through the people of Southbrook. Tell them to go and get more jars because they are about to see Me bless them tremendously. But Rob, tell them this as well, when the jars stop coming (they’re no longer stretching their faith, an inward mentality of, “us four and no more” develops, they grow comfortable with the size of the church and the spiritual condition of the community outside the church, they forget how big I am and how small they are) the blessing will cease as well. The oil will no longer flow.

You’ll be fine—good even, but not all you could be. It could have been more. I want to bless your socks off. I’m about to.

Just keep those jars coming.

So you know what I think we should do?

Keep those jars coming!

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9 Comments currently posted.

JT says:

Wow!

Your BEST post of all-time!! I’m serious…very real and insightful as to how your conversations with God go. It sets the bar for us out here in blogger land to get to that same level. To talk to God like we do our friends and family here. To listen to God like we do to our kids and others.

I have every confidence that these types of insights really inspire all of us to keep bringing the jars!! Thank-you! Now go get some coffee…

Christine Malone says:

Rob, I love your blog! You keep it so real. I look forward to your posts. Here at the brook, we are off the top. My family and I are so on fire for what GOD is bringing to us next. Years ago, I never knew this kind of FAITH existed. Praise God for SOUTHBROOK!!

Lance Ratliff says:

Rob this particular blog made me shiver and produce goose bumps. That is a good thing by the way. It means what you are writing is God communicating directly thru you to us. I can not wait to see the miracles and do whatever is needed to help. I will bring as many jars as I can cary.

Michael says:

Blessing our socks off does not equal financial blessings. What God wants to do is deepen our relationship with Him. God wants to give us more responsibilities (aka people in need financially, in need spiritually and just in need of love). God wants to be more glorified in His Church. God wants to fill the jars to overflowing and then keep on filling.

The person in the Bible who comes to mind is the Gentile woman who tells Jesus that even dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table. What I am hearing is that God is about the spill. We need to be ready for Him to spill and need to be very ready for the who’s He will be spilling onto. Really, God is not about to get those we have come to expect. Read into what you want.

God is awesome. Read the first couple of chapters in Ephesians and see how awesome He is and who He is wanting to share His Loving salvation with.

Christopher Wall says:

My quiet time (not often at 5:20am) and Pastor Rob’s Blog. Two places I know you can always go to grow and get inspiration.

This past Sunday it was awesome to see all the people at the 8:30 and 10:00 services on Father’s Day…..

Last night Pastor Jeffery talked about “Stretching our Hearts” to love one another as he got in a workout. He also talked about Pastor Rob, but that is between Pastor Jeffery and Pastor Rob :>). If you were not there you missed a good one. Oh and Pastor Dan’s all solo-worship music was the best….

Ok back on topic….. beep beep beep

It is fitting that Pastor Jeffrey’s words last night would link into Pastor Rob’s message this morning. That message being that we should have outstretched love for anyone and everyone we meet. That demonstrated / visible love that may help others come see what is missing in their life and at the same time continue to “fill the jars” at Southbrook.

To daily be different than others in a positive, happy, loving way just may cause others to say “what is it that he or she is topped off on?”

A relationship with and the love of God is an amazing thing. It is sad that something anyone can have is so often passed on because..??????

Yep it ends there……. everyone has their own reasons / answers to that question.

Inside Humor Mode On:
For Pastor Paul’s and my friend that told us “she” thinks she is loosing her hearing, I can send you an ALL CAPS version of this post if you need it ;>)

Melissa Dudley says:

Rob - What a responsibility you carry on your shoulders! And to know that you are keeping an ever-listening ear to what God wants you to do next, causes me to get excited and HOLD ON TIGHT! God is going to do huge, scary, wonderful things.

Thanks for not sitting still………or sleeping for that matter!!!

Key says:

Rob you said: “You all are easy to love greatly because you love so greatly.” Maybe this has something to do with it? (GODS messages flowing together again! ~Is He shuffling the pages again!) Jeoffrey taught last night (in The Brook), right from the Living Word of GOD: Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from GOD. Everyone who loves has been born of GOD and knows GOD. Whoever does not love does not know GOD, because GOD is love. 1 John 4:7-8
We are called to love one another fervently from a pure heart, having been redeemed from the EMPTY way of life. ~ So we ALL have jars! And yes thanks to Christ Jesus we have faith and believe that God has and will fill them over and over again ~ continuously! Out of the overflow….the Kingdom of God! New believers like me being inspired by you and your obedience, passion, vision and strong relationship with GOD. GOD is our inner strength and He will stretch us from within to love the socks off ALL people. And when we do….blessings overflow….obediently giving the first fruits to Him and we can live abundently off what is “left over”. Thanks Rob! You are one of those blessings!
P.S. And Jeoffrey… has been blessed with muscular legs. We all saw that last night! What’s the elastic band got to do with it? Something about stretching, but you should have been there (for many reasons)!
P.P.S. Dan you ROCK! Can’t wait for the new CD to drop!

Heather Hoag says:

I have a love hate relationship with God on these “5AM wake up calls”. On one hand I am like “Ok…look….I know You don’t sleep and all that and time doesn’t really constrain you and all but….I have to get up in an hour and function.” But then I love when He does this because great things get done….prayer for someone you have been “meaning” to pray for, the solution to the problem that has been plaguing you for weeks, or like in your case, the vision of what God expects from you.

The whole jar thing is both exciting and scary. We can’t slack off - grow weary from doing good.