Christmas Through The Generations | Week 2 | Pastor Ben Pierce

There comes a moment in every season when momentum shifts. People start showing up. Doors open. Needs that felt impossible begin to get met. That kind of movement isn’t magic; it’s the result of ordinary people deciding to make room for God and then stepping into the uncomfortable places that create capacity for the miraculous.

Whether you’re thinking about a church expansion, a relationship that needs healing, a tight household budget, or the next chapter of your personal faith, the same principle applies: God fills the vacancy we prepare. The miracle isn’t about the oil, the money, or the program. It’s about the space we intentionally create and the faith we bring to that empty space.

Celebrating the Harvest So We Can Plant Again

Before we go further, it matters to remember the soil we’re working in. In the past five years, a community of people committed to serving has produced real, measurable fruit: lives changed, families restored, and consistent outreach that is more than a one-off charity drive. Monthly food distribution that now feeds 200 families, prison ministry that’s become another campus, international missions that reach places where most ministries cannot, these are the kinds of things that happen when a community cultivates capacity and moves together.

There are concrete signs of growth: weekly attendance climbing year after year, more baptisms, and hundreds of people saying “yes” to Jesus. Those numbers are not the end goal but the evidence of a community learning to create space and trust God to fill it.

The Story That Unpacks the Principle

Two thousand years before modern church campaigns and community programs, a woman found herself in debt and at risk of losing her children to slavery. She told the prophet Elisha, “I have nothing,” but then added, almost as an afterthought, “except a jar of olive oil.” What followed is one of the clearest Biblical examples of capacity being cultivated.

Elisha told her to ask her neighbors for empty jars, lots of them, then shut the door with her sons and begin pouring oil from her little jar into the empty vessels. She poured until all the jars were full. When she asked for another, and there were no more jars, the oil stopped. The oil didn’t run out. Her capacity did.

God always fills whatever vacancy we create.

That sentence is the thesis. It reframes the problem from “God doesn’t have enough” to “we haven’t made enough space.” The woman’s seed, a single jar of oil, was all she needed to start. But the size of the miracle matched the number of jars she was willing to gather.

Three Practical Truths About Cultivating Capacity

1. Start by identifying what you already have

Too many people react to need with deficit thinking. “I don’t know the Bible well enough.” “I don’t have money to give.” “I’m not gifted to serve.” That voice ignores the seed you already hold. The woman had one jar. The widow in Mark who dropped two pennies had something to give. You have a story, a moment of testimony, a small gift, an hour a week, those are the seeds.

• Financial seed: even a small, sacrificial offering can stretch capacity and invite God to multiply it.
• Time seed: one hour in a small group or serving the food distribution plants, relational soil for future growth.
• Spiritual seed: a verse you can memorize, or a prayer rhythm you start, builds spiritual capacity for future understanding.

God doesn’t ask for more than you have; he invites you to use what you do have. Ask: What jar am I already holding?

2. Cultivate capacity by stretching your comfort zones

The woman didn’t simply hold onto her jar; she went and asked neighbors for empty jars. That’s uncomfortable. Asking for jars requires vulnerability, dependence, and faith.

Think about physical fitness as a metaphor. You may lift heavy weights comfortably, but put that same effort into running a sprint, and you realize you were missing a capacity you never built. Spiritual capacity works the same way. If you’ve never served on a team, inviting a stranger to church or stepping into a recovery group will feel like cardio, painful, unfamiliar, but strengthening.

Every area of spiritual life benefits from stretching: prayer, Bible study, generosity, evangelism, and hospitality. Each time you say “yes” to one additional jar, you give God an empty vessel to fill.

3. Capacity controls what God does next

Here’s the sober part: God’s supply never runs out. The anointing never dries up because God is the source. The miracle stopped when the jars stopped. We put the lid on the miracle by stopping short of what God might have done if we’d kept going.

That means our responsibility is simple and profound: make room. Build the ark before the rains come. Ask for the jars. Create seats in the auditorium, spaces in our schedules, and room in our budgets. God will fill them.

Real-Life Examples of Capacity Being Cultivated

When a church chooses to live like the jar story, the results are practical and surprising.

• Food distribution: moving from once a month to twice a month because neighbors and volunteers created the capacity to serve 200 families regularly.
• Prison ministry: launching and expanding to twice monthly, what began as a small team grew into an entire campus of ministry.
• International missions: everything from packing meals for hurricane relief to building a commercial playground in the Dominican Republic. The playground became the centerpiece of transformation: teachers who had never seen a playground climbed on it first, and one school principal gave her life to Christ.
• Underground support: partnering with ministries that smuggle Bibles into hostile regions shows how strategic capacity and creativity can reach places many cannot.
• Alpha and outreach events: what started as a chapel group outgrew spaces until the auditorium was needed. Growth happens when we create containers for people to explore faith.

These are not just feel-good stories. They’re proof that when a community aligns its resources, time, treasure, and talent around a clear vision, God does more than we can ask. He fills what we prepare.

Practical Steps to Gather Your Jars

Making room for God is both spiritual and practical. Here are actionable steps you can take this week to cultivate capacity.

1. Inventory the seed. Write down one thing you already have that can be offered: an hour, $10, a prayer habit, a testimony, a friendship.
2. Decide on jars to gather. Ask God how many containers you should prepare in one area of life, financially, relationally, spiritually. It might be one extra hour a week, a new automatic gift, or inviting two people to a community event.
3. Stretch intentionally. Take one action that is outside your comfort zone. Serve once, attend a small group, host a neighbor, or volunteer for a mission project.
4. Shut the door and pour. Build rhythms that protect the space you’ve created, set aside dedicated time to pray, give, or serve, and stay consistent.
5. Watch and celebrate. Keep a record of what changes as you create new capacity, relationships, unexpected provision, and healed places. Celebrate what God does.

Remember: the point is not sacrificial suffering; it’s obedient faith. The widow’s two pennies caught Jesus’ attention not because of their size but because of the sacrifice and the stretching of capacity. God honors obedience, not the size of the gift.

Common Lies About Capacity and How to Overcome Them

We hear a few common objections that stop people from gathering jars:

• I don’t have enough time. Everyone has the same 168 hours. Reprioritizing one hour for prayer, one evening to serve, or one lunch to connect with someone in need creates real room.
• I don’t have money to give. You don’t need surplus to begin. Start with a seed. God multiplies what you offer in faith.
• I’m not gifted for ministry. Gifts are varied, including encouragement, hospitality, and administration. Serving is not just about spotlight gifts; it’s about being present where needs are.
• I’m afraid to step into discomfort. Growth often feels like cardio: hard at first but strengthening over time. The first month may feel impossible; after a season, it becomes a new capacity you don’t want to lose.

Why This Matters Beyond Church Walls

Making room for the miraculous is not primarily about buildings. It’s about lives. When families are fed, when children encounter safe play, when someone in prison hears hope, or when a person in a hostile place receives Scripture, those are eternal outcomes. The visible expansion of a building often mirrors invisible expansion in people’s hearts.

When you ask God how to participate, you’re not signing a contract to a project; you are stepping into a spiritual posture that trusts God to do what only he can do. That posture changes how you live, give, and relate to others.

Invitation to Respond

This is an invitation, not an obligation. Creating capacity is a spiritual practice that begins with a simple decision: to participate. Ask God, “How many jars do you want me to gather?” Listen for the voice that points you toward a small, sacrificial step. Then take it.

As you make that step, keep these two truths close:

• Your job: create the space and gather the jars.
• God’s job: fill the room and do what only he can do.

It might look like a new commitment to regular giving, an extra hour serving the food distribution, inviting a neighbor to a community event, or praying for a marriage to be restored. Whatever it is, the miracle often follows the moment you decide to make room.

One Final Thought

Discouragement often comes when we expect God to act in a space we never prepared. The woman with the jar didn’t wait for oil; she started with what she had. The miracle matched the size of the jars she gathered. If you want to see something new in your family, finances, health, or community, begin by asking God to show you the first jar.

Step out. Stretch a little. Create an empty space God can fill. When you do, you’ll discover that the best is yet to come.