Hi, I am Rob Mallan from Reliant Family Church in Tampa, Florida. You are watching God Today. You don’t see these very often anymore, but have you ever seen a hot water bottle? They used to use those if you had a stomach ache, put them on your neck if you had a shoulder injury, they would fill them full of hot water. They would use them to basically help heal bodies or take care of a sickness. They are heavy, heavy plastic and rubber. They are very difficult to blow up.
I was a part of a power team, several years ago, and we were in front of 1,000s of young people and there were two gentlemen doing strength feats. They started blowing up these hot water bottles. Right in the middle of it, one of them tapped out because he could not push through and blow up the hot water bottle. One of the guys on the team said, “Rob, why don’t you take the bottle over.” I had never done it before in front of crowds, I had only practiced it at this time. I was thinking, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want to look like a fool, I don’t want to try and blow this thing up and it not blow up, or blow up halfway and look like an idiot.” You know what? I had to face my fear. I stepped out of my comfort zone, I grabbed that hot water bottle. I am going to tell you – it was not easy. Some people think these are tricks. Yes, there is a trick to it, but it is not easy. I started blowing up this hot water bottle and it kept getting larger, and larger, and larger to the point where I couldn’t even see the crowd anymore. I thought, “Is this thing going to get any bigger?” What I didn’t realize is that the guy before me had already stretched it out by him blowing in it, he had stretched that thing out. Now I had to put in extra effort, extra time, extra air to get this thing to blow up.
I could remember standing there in front of groups of people, 1,000s of people, and my leg literally started shaking like this [demonstrates shaking]. My arms started shaking. I was thinking, “I can’t do this.” Finally, they bring a brick over. I set the bottle on the brick and I am sitting there going, “God, please help me blow up this bottle, God – please let me finish this, don’t let me look like a fool in front of all these people.” I took one more last breath and that bottle exploded. When that bottle exploded, the crowd literally roared. I couldn’t even hear them cheering for me. I was cheering for myself. I was just thankful I got through that.
What’s the point of what you’re talking about right now? Every one of us is going to face an obstacle, face a situation that we may not think we are prepared for. Here’s the thing. We are not really prepared for anything God has for us. We are in preparation mode all the time. There comes a divine moment where God interrupts your schedule just like he interrupted me. I wasn’t supposed to be blowing up the hot water bottles that night. I was comfortable breaking bats, bending steel bars, but God said, “I have something more for you to do.” By me blowing up that hot water bottle that night, listen it may be simple for you – it opened up other doors of opportunity. It opened up the hearts of people. That night, when I shared my testimony, hundreds of young people came down to the front. I stop and wonder if I hadn’t accepted the challenge, if I had not stepped up to the plate and grabbed the hot water bottle by faith. Because, honestly guys, I did not have the strength at that time. I was exhausted, I had not done it in front of the crowds before, I was fearful. But I minimized my fear and maximized my faith. That bottle blew up.
Now watch. You might have a hot water bottle moment going in your life. God may have called you to the forefront and you weren’t ready for it. What you need to do is walk this thing out by faith. And watch this. What you do and how you respond to God’s cues is not just about you – it’s about somebody else. My obedience not only blessed me, but my obedience opened the door for people to get saved.
See, family, that is what it is all about. It is about people getting saved. Our obedience leads others to blessing. I don’t know what you are facing right now. I don’t know what you are going through. Maybe God is calling you to the forefront. Maybe He is calling you to do something you have done in darkness, behind the scenes and practiced, and now He is calling you to do it upfront. So, you can not promote yourself, but you can promote the Kingdom. I love working with young people, I love doing strength feats, I love all the action and interaction. But, at the end of the day all the strength feats are simply for one purpose. Blowing that hot water bottle was for one purpose. Not for me to say, “Look how strong, look how great I am.” But, to point to God and say, “Look how awesome, look how great God is.” I hope you enjoyed this message, I hope you are encouraged. God bless you.