Pot Of Oil by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What Do You Have With You?

When you don't know what you have with you, men will keep asking what they can do for you. But when you know what you carry, everything changes.

Every calling of God contains within it the resources for its own fulfilment. In Exodus 4, God gave Moses a detailed and explicit assignment — He told him to use the rod, use his hand, declared Israel as His firstborn, told him who he was and where to go.

Yet on the road to that very assignment, Exodus 4:24 — God met Moses and sought to kill him. He has just spoken to Moses. He has just sent him. And now on the very road He is sending him, He is looking for him.

There are many ministers in that condition. They were on their own when God called them. They were afraid of the calling, afraid of the location. But since they have obeyed, everything in ministry feels like God wants to kill them.

The answer is in the next verse. Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son. God had already told Moses how passionate He was about His firstborn — He had just told Moses to tell Pharaoh: if you will not let my firstborn go, I will kill yours. Moses was aspiring for a higher calling and had not addressed his own son.

God may not give you certain direct instructions, but from His previous instruction, many others are implied. When a man understands the heart of God about something and still carries contradiction in his house, he becomes a candidate for divine interruption on the road.

Not All Callings Are Higher Callings

In Philippians 3:14, Paul says: I press toward the mark for the prize of the higher calling. There is a calling, and there is a higher calling. The higher calling brings higher demands.

The Lord said He expected Moses to look inward and know how to address his own son — because God had just been explicit about how passionate He was about His own firstborn. His own firstborn son remained uncircumcised. The wife knew about his encounter. And yet he had not put his house in order. For this kind of dimension of ministry, that kind of carelessness is an obstruction.

The Configuration of Calling — Jeremiah

In Jeremiah 1:1: the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

Every name in that verse is a key:

• Jeremiah — the one Yahweh uplifts
• Hilkiah — Yahweh is supreme; the one sold out to Yahweh
• Anathoth — the place of prayer and the place of answers

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Apostle Johnson Suleman
Omega Fire Ministries International
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• Benjamin — the son of my right hand; the one chosen for assignment

So when a man understands his calling and gives himself to prayer and makes his love for God unconditional, Yahweh uplifts him. There are people pursuing what should be pursuing them.

God Does Nothing Twice

God created the world once. When the earth was wiped away, He did not create man again — He used Noah. Jesus walked on water. Why? Because before that, God had already parted the sea. So when Jesus saw the sea, God said: don't part it, walk on it. Because what I do, I do once.

When they were hungry He brought down manna. When they needed to feed 5,000, He said: I need bread to multiply. I will not bring manna again. I do My things once.

Vision and Motive — What Separates Calling from Ambition

When you hear a minister say: I am tired of this place because I can't pay my children's fees — that is ambition. That is not a called man. That is a concerned man in a survival contest.

A called man is not looking at his pocket. He is not checking his benefit. His question is not about his financial condition — it is about his assignment. That you are a pastor does not make you a called man. There are many with a collar but no calling — driven by ambition.

Vision is when, even when things are going well financially, there is still a yearning in your spirit. There is still a vacuum in your heart. You still feel you are not doing enough.

What powers vision is burden.

The Broken Vessel and the Widow's Oil

In 2 Kings 4, Elisha asked the widow: what do you have with you? She said: nothing but a pot of oil.

God does not lift the standing — He lifts the falling. Most times your back will be on the floor so that your eyes can be on the Lord. You only fill what is empty. For God to fill you, you must admit you are empty. Push education aside. Push technicalities aside. Lord, I am empty — fill me.

Solomon understood this. When God appeared and asked what he desired, Solomon said: I am a child. I don't know how to go out or come in. I know nothing. Pick me. Fill me. And God said: that speech pleased Me.

The Fifty Sons of the Prophets at Jordan

The fifty sons of the prophets stayed far from Jordan. Jordan is the place of death — the place of total surrender — and they would not go there. Pentecostal men, but they stayed far from the place where the flesh should die.

Only one man was at Jordan. Even though he had seen Pentecost, he was at Jordan ready to die. Except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abideth alone. But when it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

They stayed far. We can see Jordan, but no — I can't sacrifice my car for God. I'm Pentecostal, but I can't let malice go. I can't let arrogance go. 50 sons of the prophets stayed far from the place of total surrender. Only one man was at Jordan.

And the mantle fell on that one man.

David Numbered Israel — The Beginning of Departure

David's departure from the scene began from the day he numbered Israel. He wanted to believe in the power of numbers — because in those days, the larger the battalion, the more the predicted victory. He was premising his strength on numbers. God said: it is not about numbers. It is about My presence.

Constant reminder — without Him you are nothing. Whatever you are today is by grace. Paul was very smart when he said: I am what I am by the grace of God.