A Little Coat, Cloud, Chamber, Cake

Now I have four little things I want to read to you. They're very simple. First of all in 1st Samuel chapter 2. 1st Samuel chapter 2. There's lots of little things in the scriptures that God can open up to you and I'm going to read to you four little things.

Very, very important. 1st Samuel chapter 2 and verse 18, sake of time. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen epic.

Nice to have a girdle on. Verse 19, moreover his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. A little coat.

Verse 26, and Samuel grew and the child Samuel grew on. And very, very important that is. Verse 30, wherefore the Lord God of Israel said, I said indeed that thy house and thy father's house should walk before me forever.

But now the Lord said, be it far from me. For him that honored me I will honor. Very, very important indeed.

1st Kings chapter 18. 1st Kings chapter 18. And we could read verse 1, and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.

And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab and there was a sore famine in Samaria. Now verse 21, and Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? Over to verse number 36. It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.

Verse 42. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink and Elijah came up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. You ever find yourself there? And said to his servants, go up now, look towards the sea.

And he went up and looked and saw there and said, there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea.

A little cloud out of the sea. Now 2nd Kings, keep your finger there, we'll come back, 2nd Kings chapter 4 because we'll read a little bit in chapter 17 after. 2nd Kings chapter 4 and again is a story here, verse 2. Elijah said unto her, what shall I do for thee? Tell me, what has thou in thy house? Good question.

And she said, thy handmaiden had not anything in the house save a pot of oil, a good thing to have in your house. Verse 3, then he said, go borrow three vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shall pour out into all these vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.

Turn over to verse number 9. She said unto her husband, behold now I perceive that this is a holy man of God which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick. Now turn back to 1st Kings chapter 17.

1st Kings chapter 17, and it's the story Elijah again, verse 2. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, get thee hence and turn thee eastward. That's where the Lord has sent me, back east. And hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

Down to verse 7. And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belong to Zadon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

Now down to verse number 12. And she said, Has the Lord thy God liveth? I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruz. 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.

And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. Now may God add the blessing to the reading of his word, and give a little help to speak from what we have before us. First of all, we have before us here a little cloud, a little coat, a little cloud, a little chamber, and a little cake.

Very simple. We want to encourage you today just to stir you up, and to give you a little boost as you go back into society after the weekend. A little coat.

A little coat speaks of warmth. Warmth. A little coat to warm you up.

You know, you think about Adam and Eve when they realized they were naked, they needed coats, they needed a covering. Nice to have a covering when it's cold. All these little things that we find here came up in very odd circumstances.

God worked in very difficult circumstances, and always remember that when a little with God in it can be very, very much. A coat. You think of Joseph's coat.

And you know, when it comes to Joseph's coat, you know, it was made and it was beautiful. The brethren and his brothers could take his coat, but they couldn't take his character. And not only that, but they didn't have, they didn't have the, whatever it takes to put Joseph's coat on.

They really didn't wear it. They wanted to take the coat from him, and we might say a little bit about that a little later. But Joseph's coat brought him into a pathway, just as Samuel's coat here brought him into a pathway.

And we trust that you'll get the, you've gotten a little coat from this conference that you can put on that will help you in the pathway that is before you. Very important. Very important too is making a little coat for your children.

Oh, I want to tell you, the child Samuel, as he was in the temple, appreciated that coat. He appreciated the coat as he wore it in the temple, and it was very great to him, and it was very important. When it comes to Joseph too, and I'm thinking about Joseph's coat as well as Samuel here, Joseph's coat, he brought him into problems, but I just was thinking today, there's no, really no problems with God.

Obstacles is just opportunities with God. And as you put on that lovely coat, you understand that it's going to bring you into difficulties and into problems, yet God has all the provision necessary in order that he would help you wear this beautiful coat. You think about Joseph as he provides an extra day for his son Benjamin.

He's bringing his brothers and his father back to him, and he makes provision, and he gives five different coats, as it was, five garments for Benjamin, because he understands where Benjamin is going to be. He's going to be amongst the very same brethren that had sold him, that had put him into a pit, and that has caused him all these days that he's been away from his home. And you know, it's nice to have a coat that will protect you from sometimes from the sneers and from the things that happen even amongst us as brethren.

We need the person of the Lord Jesus. We need his garments. We need him to wear these lovely coats that it might protect us from all the sneers and the pitfalls that we might find ourselves into.

When it comes to the wedding garment, isn't it nice that the man found a garment to go into the wedding? It's special, and it's nice when God provides the garment that we can wear that will be the provision for us on our pathway, that will help us into dark days. Samuel, here, his mother made him a little coat, a little warmth. When is the last time that you made a coat for somebody and gave them a little warmth, as you made that lovely coat and left it wet up? I don't mean a little coat, although, you know, I was on the streets one time in Balchance, way up into the to the Earl Mountains, and it was minus 45 or 50 on the outside, and you know, some of the ones that we had learned to know realized we were down onto the street with Louie and brought us down an extra fur coat to put on, and it was a lovely coat that protect us from the cold.

Oh, listen, I think that Samuel's mom was teaching Samuel not just to put the coat on when it was cold into the temple, because she realized that not only had the light gone out, but that the testimony was gone out in the temple. That's why she had prayed for a son, and she realized that my boy is in in the midst of things, and he's going to need some protection. Oh, I want to tell you, we live in a dark world, and we need protection, and we trust that the young couples here will make a coat for their children, that when they had to launch out into this dark world, that that coat will protect them from the evil that is found.

And remember, the evil that Samuel ran into was right into the temple. It was Eli's own sons that was committing things in the temple that shouldn't have been committed in the holy place, and this boy Samuel needed protection. But I read here that this boy grew, and we could have read that he grew on.

Wonderful to grow in the midst of opposition and the midst of things that would oppose us, yet we can grow, and it comes right back to the family circle. Nothing like a powerful family circle. And I'm sure that that's the reason why there is still an assembly in La Crosse, is because there's been families that gave their sons and daughters the necessary coat to wear that would protect them, and that an assembly has lasted for some hundred and nineteen years here.

That's a testimony to the glory of God. Continue to make coats for your sons and daughters, and not just the army coats to send them off to Iraq and Iraq. No, the coats that is taken from the Scriptures and that will give them warmth and protection in the midst of darkness and evil.

But then you find that there was a little cloud, and that's not just warmth, it's waiting on God. Oh, I want to encourage you to continue to wait upon God. Don't make decisions fast.

Don't make decisions quick. Don't make decisions without going back to the book on waiting upon God. I believe that in the past, in the assemblies here throughout Iowa and Wisconsin, that there's been men, godly men, who knew what it was to wait upon God, who get down before God, put their knees, their head between their knees, and lay hold upon God for direction, for a little hand, for a hand of God to direct you.

Don't depend upon the hand of men. Thank God for good men, that you have good evangelists and good oversight men, and good men of teachers that move amongst you here in the Midwest and in Iowa and in Wisconsin. Thank God for that.

But listen, don't fully depend upon men. Depend upon the hand, the omnipotent hand of an eternal God, and wait upon God. Know what it is to wait upon Him, whether it's in the family problems, whether it's in assembly problems, or whether it's a personal problem.

Wait upon your God, and listen, don't move until you see the cloud. You get that back in the people of Israel. It was a cloud by day and a fire by night.

They moved under the cloud and under the fire. You know, the cloud protected them from the heat, from the fire, the world's fire. That's right, it protected them from the heat.

And the cloud, you know, the fire not only protected them, but it gave them warmth as they moved to the desert scene. So it's a protection. And don't move without the cloud.

Oh, we would encourage you to do that. We've seen it. We're not very old, we're not an old man in any wise, but I've seen moves in assembly decisions, personal decisions, and you know, family decisions that was done without the omnipotent hand, without seeing the cloud, without understanding that.

Wait him up on God, and listening for his tender tones, listening for his voice, and instruction from the Word of God. And when you get that instruction, when the cloud is there, the provision is there to move. And don't move without, you know, there are those that are moving from Newfoundland, and you know, sometimes that happens.

But you know, I go back to the story of Ruth, and Amalek, and they left. There was a famine too, also, and they left. And sometimes, you know, you need to pray, whether you're supposed to stay in the famine, or move outside the famine.

And it's very important. Whether you're going to move to work, or whether you're going to move to marry, or whether you're going to move to labor, depend, wait upon the eternal God, and allow God to move you, and direct you. Very, very important.

But then it was a little chamber, a little chamber. And you know, it's nice to have a little chamber. I appreciated my bed this weekend.

And you move from bed to bed, sometimes, you know, it's a little hard to sleep. But you know, when God puts you in a real nice, comfortable bed, and the chamber is nice, nice to have a little chamber. Listen, and we've heard about that, the hospitality.

Don't lose it, whatever you do. Don't lose the hospitality touch. It's the cure from many disease, and many other viruses that we have, is protection in the home.

And this woman understand that this was a man of God, and she got a little chamber for him. A little chamber, there were four things in the little chamber. It was a bed in the little chamber.

That means rest. Nice to have rest. Nice to be able to rest.

Nice to have a place of rest. Got a little chamber where you can rest upon the Word of God, where you can rest in the presence of the Lord, where you can rest when He is dear, and He can open up the Word of God to you. Oh, it's nice to have rest.

It's a little table. What's the table for? You know, the table is for refreshment. Ah, it's nice to have refreshment, isn't it? We look forward to the meal at every meeting, and then you go to the meal.

Nice to be refreshed. Oh, listen, when is the last time you provided the rest for a people of God? When is the last time your home was a place of refreshment? I went into homes, you know, and it was nothing. It was no relaxation, and there was certainly no refreshment.

That's right. The very moment you stepped into the door, you realize it's tension. Ever go into a home where there's tension? And you know that, you know, the lawyer said to the lady, what went between you and your husband the last day? You know, that brought this, and you just shed a rolling pin, and two cups, and a saucer, and so many other things.

Oh, listen, it's nice to have a home that you can provide rest for the people of God. You can provide refreshment to the people of God. But then there's a little stool, too.

What's the little stool for? The little stool is for setting to have revelation, to have the Word of God revealed. When is the last time somebody came into your home, and you know, you didn't discuss politics, and you didn't discuss, you know, pleasures, and you didn't discuss all the other things of the world, and you know, it's nice to talk about some of these things, but you know, there was that revelation. You unfolded a little of the Scriptures, and you brought before them the Lamb of God, and you had a nice roast dinner.

That's right, roast lamb. I can have a real, real roast feasting on the roast lamb. When is the last time you used it in your home? And there was revelation of the Lamb as you brought a little Scripture, just a little.

You don't have to be a great theologian. You don't have to be a one that can, you know, put the eyes over everything and be so particular. You know, some ladies don't entertain because, you know, they're scared of the preachers.

I hope they're not scared of me in any wise, and you know, a preacher shouldn't bring that scare tactic as he walks in the door, and the lady's standing there, and you know, she's shaking that much, she loses the dinner of her hand. Oh, it's nice to have that touch, that temple touch, and to move in, and to be taken care of, the stew, revelation, and in the candlestick. What's the candlestick for? What do you use the light for? The light is for going into the darkness.

When was your home the last time you used the candlestick in your home to rescue somebody? Listen, I grew up as a boy, left my home, and went into the large city, and I went to a boarding house, and the lady that fed us was pretty mean, and her husband was even more mean, and you know, there was times that I got hungry at the end of the day, and especially at the end of the week, and I was so happy that there was homes that I could go into that rescued me, stepped inside, and says, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Yeah, I don't know about you, what you have in the fridge, but there's nothing at home in my boarding house at the fridge, and I'm just, I'm just starving. Oh, there was a little light there.

That's right, he wasn't afraid to do it, and there was a candlestick. When is the last time your home was used to rescue somebody that is astray? That's right, used a little light, poured a little light down and onto the Word of God, and refreshed them, and dropped them out of death, and rescued them. When is the last time you used a light to go out? Oh, listen, if I'm not mistaken, that there are many in Wisconsin, in Iowa, and throughout the Midwest, that have been dissemblies for over a hundred years, that would love to be rescued from a home here, in some of the states here.

Oh, I want to tell you that it's nice to use the light, a little chamber there, and bring a little refreshment to all, rescuing you. And then you find, you know, is a little cake, and the little cake here, and it speaks to us of welcome. That's right, welcome.

It's nice if you come to Newfoundland, you'll find inside most of the doors, and probably all of the doors, it's welcome. That's right, hardly ever knock on the door, you know, especially when the welcome is on the outside, you walk in, and you say, well, you told me I was welcome, I'm here. You know, one lady, when I was preaching to her, that she had that outside the door, and I walked in, and you know, she started to listen to me, and she batted her eyelashes a few times, and said, well, you're so wise, why don't you just sit down? She says, and nobody gets in here preaching to me, nobody ever gets into my door preaching to me, but I says, lady, you said I was welcome, and I took you at your word.

A little cake, a little cake, hospitality, nice to come into homes, and you're welcome here. Yes, they make you feel at home, and you can smell the little flavor going through the kitchen, and you know that something is in preparation, and you're going to be there. When is the last time you made a little cake for somebody? That's right, and that's sometimes in our witnessing, too.

You know, it's nice, the best advertisement for gospel meetings, I know the Seed Sowers does a good work, and there's nothing wrong with that, and there's nothing wrong with advertisement in the papers, and there's nothing wrong with advertisement on if you want to use a TV and a radio, and all these things they're there to do, but you know the best advertisement for Christianity, I'm living before my neighbor, and I make a little cake and go down and knock on the door, and says, you know, I just like to make myself known here, and it's a little cake. Even the KGB, you know, we were suspected of spies one time up on one of the towns in the Ural Mountains, and even the KGB came, and they brought their cake and their coffee, too, and sat down. They were wondering if we were spies, and they thought if they talked to us a little more, they could find out who we are.

Well, listen, maybe you could find out who your neighbor is, if you take a little cake and go to their door and knock on their door, and listen, there's 365 days of a year. It's no good to knock on their door with a cake and say, we're having gospel meetings in the gospel hall, you know, we'd like to see you come. Oh, make a cake, and well, you don't have to make it 365 cakes, but you can make a few during the year, and visit them with a little cake, sit down at their table, and witness to them.

Just tell them what you know about your family, and you'd be surprised how God will open up the way, and you'll be witnessing to it, and they'll say, well, listen, come back again. Come back. Well, I'm glad you invited me, and you got the invite now to come back, and you were able to go back, and you're able to make that little, oh, listen, little cake.

That's important. Witnessing. That's what we're lacking.

We're too busy, too busy at all the things. It's nice to be busy, nice to have your work, and this, you know, the economy, you're expecting it to go down. God will take care of you.

He took care of all the people in the family. You read your Bible and find out how many famines there was, and you know where the best people, where they stood the best, is the ones that stayed in the famine, didn't run from it. That's right.

When God brings something, it's no good to run from it. He can still follow you. That's right.

The famine in Joseph's day, it not only came to Joseph and Egypt, it came to his brethren, too, and that's why it came in the first place, is because his brethren had sold him. You know, be very careful what we do to each other. You know, the famine sometimes comes because how we handle each other.

It's not how we handle the world, but it's how we handle each other, and that's important, and you know, sometimes it's nice to make not just a little cake to witness to your unsaved neighbor, but maybe you should make a little cake and go to the brother you haven't seen eye to eye with, or your sister you haven't seen eye to eye with for a long time. Told a story since I come in Iowa, two brothers who didn't get along together, one is walking down the road wondering what the other guy is doing inside, and you know the other guy's inside peeping through the keyhole wondering what the other guy, if he really thought about him or not, while he's walking down the street. So the other guy got curious walking down the street and says, well, you know, I can't look in his window, but maybe I just look in his keyhole and the door.

So he goes to the keyhole in the door and looks into the little hole, and he's looking out through. You know what one said to the other, ah, it's a long time since we saw eye to eye, brother. That's right, and maybe just, you know, some of the times the famine comes in is we're not seeing eye to eye, and we're not considering each other, and we've misplaced each other.

Maybe you should make a little cake and go to your Christian brother or sister, and just knock on the door, and with a little tear coming down your cheek saying, you know, I've been thinking about you recently so much that I thought I'd make a little cake, and if you didn't mind, I could come in and we could have a little cake together. Oh, you'd be surprised how much you could do. Jim was speaking here, and he mentioned about consideration for each other.

You know, Mr. Harris used to say that you should think other better than yourself, even though you know they're not. But, and then it's consideration for each other, and you know, it's nice to consider the man that you know you're not as good as him, but still have a good appreciation, and be able to shake his hand just as good as the man that you might think that you're a little better than him. Oh, listen, it's important to see the cloud.

It's important to have a little chamber. It's important to have a little coat. Make a coat for your brother, too.

Don't take the coat off your brother. And we're easy to do that, isn't it? We're easy to rip the coat off somebody else, but make a little coat for your brother, and give that little coat for your brother. You know, one man gave me his coat.

He took it off and gave me his coat, but I was looking at him. He was a millionaire, and he did, you know, the coat that he took off, you know, he had a dozen like it, so it really didn't cost him very much, and it, you know, was no sacrifice on his part to do it. Ah, listen, sometimes to make a coat, it costs to make the coat for somebody else.

It's a step down, but it's nice to make the coat. Nice to get the direction from God. Nice to have a little chamber.

And listen, if you come to Canada, Newfoundland, right to Labrador, my wife is a good cook, and she'll make you a little cake, and we'll sit down together. But I'm so happy that the Lord brought me here, and I've prayed for this for five years, come back to this area, and finally God opened the door and brought me back. I'm happy, and we trust that God will bless you as you leave the conference here, and that he would have given you that little coat that he, only him can make and give to you, and will protect you.

The young need us, but listen, I said since I come here that there's foolish old men and women too, as well as foolish young men and women, so everybody needs a coat, and we trust that you've gotten a little of the garments of the Lord Jesus as you leave this conference and wear them. They're beautiful. I've seen beautiful coats, but listen, there's no coat like the one you can get from the Bible, and from God himself, and it's precious.

It's Joseph's coat, many colors, and you know others will appreciate it if you just share it. God bless his word.