Little is Much
Notes
Transcript
I want to begin by reading just one short scripture tonight - a proverb
16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord Than great treasure and trouble therewith.
In this little proverb we see what some have called an unfair comparison
Great wealth and the fear of God
Great wealth even with turmoil is still great wealth.
What all can you do with wealth?
Vacation
Buy a home
a boat
beautiful car
top-quality education/ pay off student debt
In some ways you can even try to buy your way out of turmoil.
But what is that compared to the fear of the Lord?
You can’t cash that at the bank - you can’t save or invest it
But in reality the fear of the Lord is far more valuable.
If you have a little fear of the Lord you are entitled to come expectantly and daily to God’s throne to receive grace, gifts, and other blessings
Having little does not matter when you know where to get more
I believe in the bigness of little things
Little is much when it’s what you have in your hand
Little is much when it’s what you have in your hand
Moses didn’t have much just a handful of sheep on the slopes of a blistered mountain, 80 years of memories, some of them bad, and he had a staff -
but with God - little is much when its what you have in your hand
The widow woman barely had two coins to rub together but as it jingled in the offering box that day - Jesus’ heart sang for joy and he noted that she gave more than anyone else there that day -
She gave what she had in hand - it was little and considered insufficient to some - but to God it was capable of greater things than any other offering that day.
A little boy had a packed lunch with some fish and crackers - and as it passed through Jesus’ hands it multiplied enough to feed thousands of people
The bigness of little things
Zechariah asks the question Zech 4:10
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
The little with God is great not how great the little
The little with God is great not how great the little
One song writer said - “When Jesus is all that you have He’s all that you need”
We want to think in big expensive overhauls, and programs, and evangelistic campaigns, and ministries and other big things -
But it is the little things with God that become great
not how great the little things are.
You can drop a tiny pebble in a lake and concentric, ever-expanding ripples can reach far across the lake
And can I just remind you that there are concentric, ever-expanding ripples to small deeds done faithfully for Him.
I believe in the bigness of little things
22 A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.
I thought of full circles
This church was here and faithful years ago when a full blown drunkard - an alchoholic who spent all his money on his drink would beat his wife and sometimes kids started coming to church here and got saved
God gloriously transformed that man’s life
his son left this church and went way out into sin and lived through some wicked stuff
but he came back from his time in the war and got saved
and God called him to preach -
I remember as a boy hearing all the stories about Bro. Tom Wade
Most of them I heard from Bro. Tommy and Bro. Johnny his sons
My brother started getting eyes for a girl he’d met at camp and we tried to figure out who it was - and come to find out it was Lisa Wade that drunk that alcoholic who had gotten saved right here in this Church - She was his granddaughter
Tim and Lisa got married - and had several children and now one of their children has married Bro. Albert Schaper’s Granddaughter
SIs. Della grew up in this church
Things change - time goes on - this church looks different than it did then, its a different congregation than it was then
but God is still the same
It’s not how great and talented we are
It’s how great God is.
In fact I imagine a whole host of Gideon’s army that went scadadling back home were some of hte strongest and best trained warriors.
I’m sure Gideon looked at the line filing past him of those who wanted to leave and thought - “Oh how am I going to make it without them”
“They have such potential, they have such talent, they have such possibilities”
But God said - that’s not how we’re going to win this war
I believe in the bigness of little things
and little is much when God is in it
Then Sings My Soul Special Edition: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymns Stories Little Is Much When God Is in It
One snow-blanketed night, Canadian Fred Suffield awoke to an urgent pounding on his door. A half-frozen man reported that a train had stalled in the blizzard, and the passengers were in danger of freezing to death. Lighting a lantern, Fred followed the man to the site and led the travelers back to his house. Later one of the passengers, Kittie, wrote a thank you note. Fred replied, and Kittie wrote back. Their correspondence led to courtship and to marriage.
Some time later, Fred and Kittie attended a church in Ottawa pastored by Rev. A. J. Shea, and there they gave their lives to the Lord. As the couple grew in Christ, they entered the ministry of evangelism. One summer they invited Shea’s teenage son, George Beverly, to spend a month with them in Westport, Ontario, holding evangelistic meetings. One night, accompanied by Kittie on the piano, Bev attempted to sing, but his voice cracked on the high notes, and he sat down mortified, vowing never to sing again.
Kittie wouldn’t hear of it, suggesting he sing in a lower key. He did, and he kept on singing, and singing, and singing.
Then Sings My Soul Special Edition: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymns Stories Little Is Much When God Is in It
our own individual ministries seemed small and insignificant. But God uses little things in great ways. A tiny acorn may produce a forest. A spark may ignite a revival. A small church might produce the next far-famed evangelist.
Don’t be discouraged if your place seems small. You’re doing more good than you know.
Years later in 2000 George Beverly Shea 92 at the time sang at an event and as he rose to sing HIs rich baritone voice broke into a song that Fred and Kittie Suffield had written 73 years earlier - and I want us to sing it tonight - and I want these words to envelope you, to carry you away to engulf you
In the harvest field now ripened
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark! the Master’s voice is calling,
To the harvest calling you.
Refrain:
Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown, and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name.
Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem so small and little known?
It is great if God is in it,
And He’ll not forsake His own.
Here is a verse I haven’t heard in a long time and its not in our hymnal - but I want you to catch the importance of it -
Are you laid aside from service,
Body worn from toil and care?
You can still be in the battle,
In the sacred place of prayer.
When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run,
He will say, if we are faithful,
“Welcome home, My child—well done!”
Lets stand and sing this together
I believe it is page 151