We Often Despise God’s
Little Things in Our Lives – But We Shouldn’t!
Zechariah 4:10
Oct 14, 2012 PM
Pastor Craig
Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (Zech 4:10)
A.
Often, we think of small things as unimportant, not valuable,
as things to be ignored or quickly replaced with “greater” and “bigger” things:
Ants, Dust, Pennies
B.
I believe most people do not care about the unborn because
they see the baby as too small and not really a life – and so they have no
problem murdering!
C.
But God thinks small things are great!
1.
Did you know that this earth
is SMALL compared to the entire universe? Yet He created everything just for us!
2.
Mankind certainly is small
compared to all other life on this planet, yet man is the apex of creation!
3.
King David was thrilled that
God took notice of him and actually LIKED him (1Chron 28:4) “He liked me”
4.
Concerning the ants that we
easily crush under our feet, God commands us to learn from those very ants!
5.
Speaking of the smallest dust
in our homes, God reminds us that He made us from dust
6.
And a mite (1/4th
of a penny)? Well, to Jesus 2 tiny little mites were an amazing amount of a gift
from that widow woman in the
7.
Do you realize that Jesus did
not need a great Stallion, or a jumbo jet to ride into
D.
I have recently noticed a
lot of small things, little things in the Bible –
dozens of small things
E.
We can’t look at all of them,
but, let’s remind ourselves about some small things that ought to be great in
our eyes!
II.
Message
A.
The Blessing of a Little Flock
(Luke 12:32)
1.
Build your life and schedule
around this little flock
2.
To this group, is where Jesus
comes – steps down from heaven!
3.
Just two or three is enough to
get His special attention!
4.
Don’t ignore or despise the
smallness of this little flock – Jesus doesn’t!
5.
This congregation, this
assembly of believers is a great congregation! Even though little! It has always
been great – from the time we started with two visitos that first Sunday, all
the way until now (Dt 7:7,8)
6.
As we grow, and buy our
building, lets keep little in our view of ourselves!
7.
Saul started out with this
view about himself (1Sam 15:17)
8.
We need to keep this view too!
B.
The Blessing of a Little Thorn
(2Cor 12:7-9)
1.
Thorn – discomfort,
aggrevation, something that has to be removed! Yet won’t go away!
2.
God blessed Paul with a thorn
a.
Affected his body
b.
Satan had control of it
c.
It had the ability to
accomplish the opposite of what Satan meant for it to do!
3.
To keep us humble
4.
To keep us dependent upn the
grace of God instead of the power of God
5.
To help us comfort those who
are hurting
6.
What should have turned into
bitterness, actually made Paul sweeter – because Paul leaned upon God’s GRACE
instead of on his own strength
7.
Remind yourself throughg every
trouble that that trial is a blessing since it is reminding you that you need to
draw on Christ’s grace and HIS strength, every moment of every day!
C.
The Blessing of a Little Faith
(Mt 17:20)
1.
I want to have great faith,
strong faith, unshakeable faith
2.
But there is a blessing in
using what I have (even though it may be small) instead of doing nothing because
of what I don’t have!
3.
You and I cabnnot use the
faith we don’t have, so why waste time only wishing for greater faith! USE THE
FAITH YOU DO HAVE!
4.
It will always be enough to
a.
Move mountains
b.
And more importantly, move the
heart and hand of God towards our need!
5.
If you have been born again,
it is because you had a little faith! And it worked!
6.
Enjoy your little faith, and
feed it and keep it growing!
D.
The Blessing of a Little Child (Mt 18:2-5)
1.
God loves children – says they
are a gift!
2.
There is such a blessing just
being one
3.
Then, Blessing one
4.
There is a great blessing
Nurturing and training one – or more!
5.
Suffer yourself to allow
little children to come to Christ and follow Him!
6.
Let’s keep our emphasis as
much on children as we do on adults!
E.
The Blessing of a Little Sin (1John 2:1,2; Rom 7:18,21; 1Cor
6:11)
1.
Instead of a life full of sin!
2.
You and I will never be empty
of sin as long as this heart beats in us… But we can make sin small and less
powerful in our life
a.
By exposing it and confessing
it to someone you are accountable to
b.
By wrestling it under the
dominion of Jesus Christ
c.
By not feeding it – cutting
off wicked TV and internet, and bad friends
d.
By replacing it with the Book,
and busyness doing the will of God
3.
Again, you will never
erradicate sin out of your life, but you should be having the victory over sins!
4.
The mature Christians in this
church rejoice over the ever smaller effects of sin in their lives! It’s a
blessing to live in victory now, instead of constant defeat!
F.
The Blessing of a Little Miracle (Ex 16:14)
1.
The Jews wanted big miracles –
they had seen plenty
2.
But God gave them a small,
white, clump of dewy dough that they called Manna
3.
It was a miracle
4.
Every day it appeared on the
ground, and was collected by 1 ½ million people
5.
And then on Frida mornings,
TWICE as much manna would lay out on the ground!
6.
Never ignore the little
miracles that come our way, every day!
7.
Every answered prayer is a
miracle
8.
Every work of faith in your
hard, stubborn, selfish heart is a miracle!
9.
Every soul won to Christ from
a life of sin and bondage is a miracle (Luke 10:17-20)
10.
Let’s enjoy the little
miracles instead of wanting only the “big” ones that don’t often come our way!
G.
The Blessing of a Little To Do For God (1Cor 1:26; John 4:34)
1.
Don’t worry about trying
to do some great thing
2.
When you haven’t succeeded
at doing the little things well (Luke 19:17)
3.
See what you are doing as
great
a.
Mothering
b.
Labouring on a rotten job
for your family – providing for your own
c.
Creche work
d.
Sunday School teaching
e.
Pianist
f.
Classwork, studies
g.
Reading your Bible
through, page by page
h.
Praying for the needs of
people – qietly, passionately, consistently
4.
Just put out a Little
Effort (Luke 19:2-4; Eccl 5:12)
5.
Just make sure you go a Little
Further (Mt 26:39) – never quitting!
6.
Never being lazy, or only
putting out a little effort
7.
You might not have much
strength, but you and I need to use it all (Rev 3:8)
8.
Even a small amount of effort
will pay off
H.
The Blessing of a Little Progress and Growth (Ex 23:30)
1.
The Blessing of a Little
Learning (Isa 28:9,10)
2.
Faithful, consistent learning
what jesus taught us (Mt 28:20)
3.
Every day, listening,
watching, questioning, understanding, applying (James 1:22)
4.
Don’t worry about being a
rocket-scientist, or theologian
5.
Just learn and live what you
learn – little by little and God will be pleased!
I.
The Blessing of a Little Chastening (Isa 54:7,8; Heb 12:6-8)
1.
It proves God loves you
2.
It changes you, and betters
you
3.
Let the Lord humble you and
correct you as often as needed!
J.
The Blessing of a Small Attitude (1Pet 3:4)
1.
We usually have great big bad
attitudes
2.
The Lord loves it when we
empty out all of our frustrations and cares, and just have small, simple, humble
attitudes about people and problems
3.
That’s what a meek and quiet
spirit is
4.
Angry men are dangerous –
don’t hang around them
5.
Angry women are scary (Pr
21:19)
6.
Moses was a meek man, yet was
strong and firm in conviction and successful
7.
Jesus was a meek man, but was
not weak at all!
8.
No woman needs to act and feel
weak to be meek – just don’t fight for your rights and attention! Keep a small
attitude about yourself! Without anger, and bitterness and wrath!
K.
The Blessing of a Little Gift (John 6:9)
1.
God doesn’t need our money
2.
He doesn’t need our abilities
3.
He just needs us to give – the
tithe, a small gift – what we already have will always be enough!
4.
Remember, a Little Cruse of
Oil, when given to Elijah was greatly blessed (1Kg 17:8-16)
L.
The Blessing of a Small Voice (1King 19:12)
1.
Quiet time with God
2.
Listening to His voice from
the Bible
3.
Don’t let the roar of the
world’s activity drown out that still, SMALL voice of the Holy Spirit
M.
The Blessing of a Little Book – the Bible (Rev 10:2; James
1:25)
1.
I have been in the Library of
Congress in Washington DC – it
contains 838 miles of book-shelves, containing 23 million books.
2.
The Vatican Library contains
only 75,000 books
3.
Canon law requires a good
catholic to know and trust the contents of about 135 volumes of books including
the anti-nicean and post-nicean fathers, as well as the writings of hundreds of
other authors
4.
Yet God saw fit to put into
this small Book of books, all that a believer needs to kn ow to enjoy life and
have enternal life!
5.
This little Book is a
blessing!
a.
66 books
b.
1189 chapters
c.
About 1,500 pages from start
to finish!
d.
31,000 verses – lines of text
e.
You can hold it all in your
ONE hand!
f.
People have memorized the
entire New Testament, others have memorized the entire Torah (the first five
books of the Old Testament) – it is not too big!
g.
If you sat down and just read
it from cover to cobver without stopping, it could be finished in less than 72
hours – just 3 days!
6.
It has done more good than all
the books ever written, than all the movies ever made, than all the magazines
every printed!
a.
The Bible has been of more
benefit to humanity than any other book in history.
b.
Whether you consider the rule
of law, property rights, the rights of all individual citizens, education,
charity and charitable institutions, education and the abolition of slavery—all
these marvelous benefits to mankind are based on the Holy Scriptures.
7.
This one Book holds answers to
a.
Who God is, how to know Him,
how to please Him, how to follow Him
b.
What happens after death
c.
Why bad things happen to good
people
d.
How to be saved from the wrath
to come
e.
How to love Ghod and enjoy God
all your life
f.
And 10,000 more questions
more!
8.
This Book of books is a
blessing – to own, to read, to memorize, and meditate on
III.
Application and Conclusion
A.
How can I wrap this up? What is the conclusion, the summary
truth?
B.
Never again can we think of small things as unimportant, not
valuable
C.
God thinks small things are great
1.
A Little Flock –
love the brethren; love
and protect what we have here
2.
A Little Thorn –
don’t hate your thorn; let
it drive you to praise
3.
A Little Faith –
use what you have and
watch it grow
4.
A Little Child –
Treasure our homes and our
efforts to protect and raise them right
5.
Little Sin –
less and less sin
6.
Little Miracles
– thank God more for the
smaller things
7.
A Little Progress and Growth
– keep growing, even when
times are slow
8.
A Little To Do For God
– be a finisher; work
hard, even when it is never enough
9.
A Little Chastening –
endure it, and thank God
for it
10.
The Blessing of a Small Attitude –
keep it small – don’t let
it become a monster
11.
A Little Gift –
be a giver – there is such
a blessing in giving
12.
A Small Voice –
be a listener
13.
A Little Book –
the Bible – treasure and
love this old Bible
D.
Wouldn’t It Be GREAT to Have Just a LITTLE of Those Things?
E.
You probably already do, but don’t appreciate them!