"EMPTYING BEFORE FILLING / SUFFERING BEFORE SUCCESS"   Isaiah 44:1-8; Luke 1:53  
Proverbs 15:33..before honour is humility.

Many Churches & members live spiritually empty lives, because they are filled with materialism.

I. ISRAEL IS CALLED JESHURUN, "the upright one."

Ø      God blesses those that live & serve in uprightness.

Ø      God will bless in their difficulties, and services.

Ø      Water is the emblem of the Holy Spirit.

Ø      Natural water is used to refresh, cleanse, and make plants fruitful, so does the Holy Spirit.

Þ What sense does it make to take a full pitcher to the well? What does it benefit? >> He comes from the well as he went!

II. MANY COME TO THE LORD FULL OF THEMSELVES TO:

·         Pray, Worship, Witness, or Work

A. With their hearts & lives filled with:

            1. Corruption - Marked by immorality and perversion

            2. Conceit - high opinion of one's own abilities or worth.

            3. Covetousness - greed, wanting what others have.

            4. Carnality-worldliness Luke 8:14 worldly weeds choke the word

B.          Polluted waters of Christian lives and the result is:

1.       Powerless lives/ Powerless churches!

2.       No Production in:

a.       Winning souls,

b.      Impacting & Influencing communities.

      Impacting- affect = positive & negative.

Before we can carry back sweet water from the well the pitcher has to be emptied or purged, even if we are at the base of the well!

2Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

1Kings 17:1- 18: 46-ELIJAH WAS EMPTIED AND SUFFERED:

1. At a drying brook--31/2 yrs. 1 Kings 17:3, 4-7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

2. Before a destitute widow-1 K 17:8-12 “And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel”

3. Before the death of the widow’s son: 1 Kings 17:17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.  

Then: On Mount Carmel---I Kings 18:19, 24-26; 36-38.

NOTE:1 Kings 18:46 AND THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS ON ELIJAH;

SUFFERING BEFORE SUCCESS:

Proverbs 15:33-“…and before honour is humility.”

ÞThere’s no promised land w/out the wilderness:

ÞThere is no Spring w/out the winter:

ÞThere is no bearing of fruit w/out pruning:

ÞThere is no joyful reaping w/out tearful sowing:

ÞThere is no birth w/out travail:

ÞThere is no empowering w/out weakness first:

I Corinthians 2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: II Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Its been said; “Suffering & success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering it is because others suffered before you. If you are suffering w/out success it is that others after you might succeed.

Luke 6:21-Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.

Psalms.34:10 -The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.;

Psalms 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

ÞIts up to us, do we want to be used, do we want the Power of God upon our lives, our Churches?

ÞWe need to empty ourselves of our wants, wishes & will.

Ephesians 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;