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Open your Bible this morning
to the book of Zechariah. For those of you who are fortunate
enough to find it before the end of the service, you can read
along with me. And for those of you who still
haven't got a clue, there's an index in the front of your Bible
that usually will give you the page number where the first chapter
can be found. And from there, you should be
able to find your way to the fourth chapter. If not, just
close your Bible and listen. Zechariah chapter number 4. And what we're reading this morning,
I don't expect many of us would grasp in just the short amount
of time we'll spend here. So before I read it, let me just
simply state, you probably won't have a clue of what we're reading. And that's fine, because it is
simply a prophecy or a prophetic vision that has been given to
Zechariah and God is going to explain it. And to move us along,
simply put, it is God's way of explaining to Zechariah that
one by the name of Zerubbabel, that's why we probably wouldn't
understand it, we can't even get the names, Zechariah and Zerubbabel. But Zerubbabel has been chosen
by God to build again the temple of the Lord. The city of Jerusalem
and the cities of Judea have lain waste for many years. There has been no Jewish lifestyle
in them for a long time. And God now has begun to call
His people back to the land and to reestablish their presence
there. And this temple is to be built
under the leadership of one named Zerubbabel. For all considerations,
for whatever reason, Zerubbabel would probably not be the individual
you would choose. Nor would he have been the individual
that even Zechariah perhaps would have chosen. And so God in this
prophetic vision reveals to Zechariah that his choice is his choice. Whether there would be those
who would say it was a mistake or a waste of time or whatever
it might be, it didn't matter. Because God makes it known here
that this is the one who I am going to use. Now having that
in mind, let's read. And the angel that talked with
me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of
his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said,
I have looked, and behold, a candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon
the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes
to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof, and two
olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the
other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord?" See,
Zechariah didn't even understand it. So don't worry about it.
The angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest
thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then
he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the
Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great
mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace! Grace! unto it. Moreover, the
word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish
it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the
day of small things? For they shall rejoice and see
the pulpit in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the
eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth."
And in this prophecy, he vindicates his choice of Zerubbabel. And I don't know what his flaws
would have been or could have been. But it is apparent from
God's understanding that He needed to offer this vindication that
Zerubbabel was His choice. It stands to reason that there
was opposition. There were those that thought
that He was not a worthy choice. Perhaps He lacked in skills they
thought would be necessary. Perhaps he was not of the character
that they thought he should have been. I do not know, nor do you. We would simply speculate. But
suffice it to say that God devotes this chapter through His prophet
to say simply, I have chosen whom I have chosen. His hand
laid the foundation and He is going to finish it. In other
words, He has my stamp of approval upon Him. Whether you like Him
or no, whether He would have been your choice or no, whether
you feel there are others that are more competent or qualified
does not matter. is the one I'm going to use."
And then he adds this little postscript, as it were, and he
says simply this, "...who hath despised the day of small things."
And in so doing, I think God expresses to us His desire to
accomplish those things by means of His own might and power and
glory. The world today has reinvented
the idea of God. A God that is somehow impotent
and nervous and in a frenzy. He is much perplexed by what
we have done to the world. He is just on pins and needles
about what's going to happen as a result of mankind's frenzy
upon the planet. A God who simply doesn't understand
how to fix it or to straighten it out. A God who really just
wants everybody to love each other and doesn't matter much
beyond that. That is not the God that is introduced
to us in the Scripture. May I say, the harshest thing
I see in the world around me today is the idea that the God
of the Bible is not good enough for modern mankind. That somehow
if we are to stand and use the Scripture as our foundation or
our source of belief, we will be castigated by the media and
by our peers somehow as being unkind and unloving. As if to
say the God of the Bible is old hat. That's an old-fashioned
God. That's a God we do not worship,
nor do we serve. We serve and worship a newfangled
God who's more in touch with society, who's green, if you
will. A God who's more concerned that
we care for each other and that we love for each other than anybody
else. And may I say to you, that's fine. You have every right to
believe in that God, but do not identify that as a Christian
teaching. Because you had to throw the
Bible out to come up with that. That's not the God in this book.
I think it's fine that the heathen have heathenistic views. I think
it's fine that non-Christians have non-Christian views. The
irritation to me is that they accuse me of being unkind when
I quote the book I profess God gave me. I often wonder where
they get their theology from. Where did God give them that
theology? Or did they just simply pick
it out of the air and then make it theology and then make fun
of me because I choose to follow a book? I've learned over the
course of many years that I do a whole lot better following
the map than I do following my own mind. How many ever got lost
because you thought you knew how to get where you're going?
Amen. Alright. I'd rather follow the
map. that come up with some random
idea out here that this is what we think Christianity should
be about in this century, and this is what we think Christians
should hold on to in this century. Listen, go take that stuff, wrap
it up, put it in your pipe and smoke it. Maybe you'll get some
happy feelings, but it is not a tenet of the Christian faith. I'm a Bible believer. I like
what God said when He said, Yea, let God be true. And I probably
quote that verse more than any other, but I just like it. Yea,
let God be true, and every man a liar." And here, somebody has
put the pressure on Zechariah. I don't know, maybe they called
him aside and said, Zechariah, you know, Zerubbabel, of all
people, who in the world, who in their right mind, who thought
of that? And Zechariah said, God, surely
God's got better sense than that. And so God offers this vindication.
And simply put, he says, sit down, shut up, and watch what
I can do. But may I express to you, that's
been the perspective of God all the way through. God's not looking
for my help this morning. God doesn't need me today. When
the sun came up this morning, God was not waiting patiently
at my bedside saying, how do you feel? Oh, I really need you
today. I have to have... No, no, no.
Listen, God does not need me. If I had failed to wake up this
morning, God's plan would have gone on just like it always had.
Sometimes we have, perhaps without thinking about it, brought God
down to a level of meaninglessness in order to elevate ourselves
to the level we would really like to occupy. They have done
that at the expense of Zerubbabel. And God says, listen, I chose
him. He laid the foundation. He'll
finish it. Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit. You
watch and see. Not what Zerubbabel can do. You
watch and see what I can do. But the thought that arrests
my attention this morning is the idea of who hath despised
the day of small things. You know what God wants today?
He wants some little things. You know the things we struggle
with? The things I struggle with in my life are not big things.
They're little things. I can't tell you the last time
I was tempted to load a gun and kill 40 people. I can't tell
you. I can't tell you the last time
I was tempted to put dynamite in a vest and run into a place
of worship going, and pull the trigger. I just can't. I think
you have to be mentally insane to do that. That's not a religious
persuasion. That's coot. I'm not tempted
to do things like that. I've never been tempted to eat
poison. I've never been tempted to work
on the electrical systems of cars while they're running. At
least not since the time I did that when I was 14 and kind of
felt that a car can really put out some juice when it wants
to. God doesn't need big things.
You know, we're in a world, in a society, and in chaos that
has people looking around for the big answers. We're looking
for one person who can solve the woes. We're looking for one
congressional decision, one presidential decree. We're looking for somebody,
some corporate executive who can say this, and we're looking
for the big answer. We're looking for the big man,
the big woman who can solve it all. And in reality, God's not
interested. I believe that there are a lot
of people that intentionally God has nothing to do with or
for because they're too big. Now, you have to forgive me because
my theology is Southern-inspired. I don't apologize for that. Just
the way that it is, my mentor was from Pascagoula, Mississippi.
And he told me when I started in my ministry, Looking across
the table, he said, God's looking for a man who's not too big to
be little. And he's not too little to be
big. You say it doesn't mean anything
to me, didn't mean much to me either, but I wrote it down in
my Bible. And over the course now, 30 years in the ministry,
I found God's not interested in big people. He's interested
in little people if they're willing to let God use them. Who hath
despised the day of small things? You know, if you trace back situations
that are critical and disastrous very often, you'll find it was
not some major catastrophe, but some small thing. I watched years
ago, as many of you probably did, when the Challenger exploded.
I guess now that makes me old. But at the time, I felt rather
young, and I still feel the same today. But I remember watching
when the Challenger exploded. I was watching. I didn't watch
the launches at all that I can recall, but I watched that launch. And I remember watching that
thing as it flew into pieces and I thought, that's not right.
And it became one of the great disasters of the space program.
After research that went on for years and years, it was determined
that the cause of that massive explosion and the deaths of,
I believe, nine, seven or nine astronauts, was an O-ring that
had a cost of a little less than a dollar that brought that multimillion-dollar
spacecraft down in a thousand pieces. It was not some gigantic
missile as what was supposed. I remember people talking, somebody
shot that down. It had to be a missile. You could,
you know, we all speculate. some major hull breach. Something
had gone massively wrong and then in reality it was just a
little rubber O-ring that was made to keep gases inside where
they were and it had failed. And it had brought about that
devastating result. We look at things like that and
think about things like that and realize that it is a small
thing. Think about how many people this
year will die as a result of Something they never see. They
may shake a hand. They may be involved in a conversation
and somewhere in the course of that, they may pick up a glass
and drink or they may turn on the faucets but they will come
in contact with some little microorganism we know of as a germ. And without
ever so much as a formal introduction, that germ will become the predator
that will eventually destroy its host. You can go to the hospital
if you want to watch the work of germs. It is an amazing thing
that we've never seen them and yet they can take life so quickly
and so totally and in such a devastating manner. I suppose when we get
in a position like that and we're lying in a hospital bed and perhaps
at the end of a life, if we're not careful, we would have a
respect for small things we did not have before. And I think
we serve a God that has a great respect for small things. I think
God this morning is looking for somebody that's just not too
big for their britches. That's what they used to say
back when they gave you spankings. Because usually after they told
you you were too big for your britches, they told you they
were going to light them on fire. And they didn't use a lighter.
They used a board or a switch or a belt, and I've had mine
lit on fire several times. I'll be honest with you, I learned
sometimes it's not healthy to be too big for your britches.
Now today, that's the way they wear them. They want them to
hang down around their ankles, long suspenders. Somehow, I guess
that's a sign that we've progressed. But I thought we were progressing
when I found out I could go to the store and actually buy clothes
that fit me. I thought that was progress. I thought you just
got the hand-me-downs from your cousins and whoever, and if they
were too big, you just cinched up the belt a little bit, and
eventually you grew into them. I didn't know you'd just go get
whatever you wanted off the shelf. That was a great moment in my
life. But I think God's looking for
people, and very often, I think when He comes looking for us,
He finds we're just too big for our britches. There were folks,
you know, the folks that were criticized as irrevable were
probably too big for their britches. They would say, well, who in
the world would choose the rubble? You know, that guy should go
back for remedial education. He didn't graduate from high
school. Whatever it might be, they looked
down upon him as one incompetent, as one unable. And by very nature
of that act, they were saying, he's down there and I am up here. They were elevating themselves,
and that probably explains why none of them had been chosen.
I can imagine they probably, as they criticized God's choice,
looked at it and they thought, I could do a better job than
that. I'm smarter than he is. I'm better than... But that's
the very reason God overlooked them. You see, the reason God
knocked on the door of Zerubbabel was not because it said on the
door plaque, Outstanding intellectual, master of all trades, never failed
in his life. He didn't say that. I think he
had Zerubbabel spelled wrong. I think it was probably spelled
with one B instead of two. And God said, he didn't even
spell his name right. And said, this is the guy I can
use. I said, what are you talking about? God's looking for some
small things. Who hath despised the day of
small things? In 1249, that's not the time,
that's the year. Someone might be able to remember
that. That's a little beyond my time. Back when Italy was
still subdivided into various kingdoms rather than the state
or the country of Italy, two of those little kingdoms began
a war. Can I tell you what the war began
over? There was in the little province of Bologna, An army
of a few men that protected the people in the stables and all
that kind of stuff. And one of the soldiers deserted.
He felt he'd had enough. He didn't want to be in the army
anymore. And so he thought about stealing
a horse, but he knew if he stole a horse they'd pursue him and
kill him. And so he simply grabbed one of the horse buckets and
filled it with water so he would have some water for his journey
as he sped for his life. And out of the city he went.
up and down hill and vale He traversed until He came to the
little kingdom of Modena. When He came to the kingdom of
Modena, He found there people who were willing to give Him
a place and allow Him to be part of their culture and accepted
Him with open arms. But it was not too long until
the army came to the gates of Modena And they knocked on the
door and they said, listen, you can keep him, but we want our
bucket back. And the people at Modena looked
at the bucket to see what there was of redeeming qualities in
it and found that there were none. It was just an old wooden
bucket with a rusty handle on it that had horse slobber all
over it. But they said, it ain't going to happen. and war broke out that lasted
for 22 years. There were books written about
the atrocities committed during that war, the battles fought,
and the people who died over a horse bucket. They say today,
if you go to that area of Italy, and go to Girolandia Tower, you
will find in the basement a display It is a glass case in which sits
a horse bucket. They still have control of it
in Modena. They kept the bucket. That's foolishness from our perspective. But it was very real. A war. Deaths. Over what? Over a bucket. Who hath despised the day of
small things? I will guarantee you in the crowd
of this size this morning, there are more than one of you. You've
never attempted to do anything for God, never thought about
doing anything to serve the Lord. And your excuse has been, I'm
just too small. No one would ever care about
me. Now, I know there are those of you who are here who also
have never served the Lord because you're just too good. You're
just too smart. You're too intellectual. You're
too high up on the food chain there. And you realize that you're
better than... And I got good news for you to
do today. This message is not to you. It has nothing to do
with you. Not even God Himself can help you. He will not use
you. And so, I'm not addressing you
this morning, I'm addressing those other few who have used
the other end of that spectrum as their excuse and said, well,
you know, I'm too young, I'm too old, I'm not smart enough,
I don't know how, I'm, all of those things we surmise as excuses. But in reality, it's just saying,
well, you know, I'm not qualified. Very often, it is simply a way
to pass the burden on to someone else. But I want you to understand
this morning, God's statement, who hath despised the day of
small things, is applicable to you. God says that in the context
of the criticism of Zerubbabel as if to say, how dare you say
that I can't use who I want to use? How dare you say that he's
not competent? How dare you criticize this individual
because he's not what you are. I'll have you know, I have chosen
this guy and he laid the foundation and he's going to finish the
work because I, the Lord, have chosen." And in so doing, he put to silence
certainly those who thought they were too big. But I think he
also served notice to those who used this excuse, I'm just not
big enough. Can I give you this morning some
of those small things that can mean so very much? I had a guy
told me one time, he said, preacher, when I win the lottery, I'm going
to pay off the church. I said, that's really good, but
you know, we only need 10 bucks right now. See, I'm going to be in there,
you know, I can't help you with that 10 bucks, but you just wait
till I win the lottery, you know. As soon as I win the lottery,
preacher, you know, it's going to happen. And we did have one.
I mentioned that several weeks ago. We had a family that won
the lottery years ago. And we haven't seen them since. But
I'm sure as soon as we see them again, they're probably going
to... You know, it's one thing to promise God something you
haven't got. And it's another thing to give God something you've
promised. Two completely different matters. But there are a lot
of people sitting here this morning, and I'm sure I'll perhaps not
a good illustration. You'd say, Lord, when I win the
lottery, I'm going to help somebody. I'm going to do something. When
I get through with my education, when I get smart enough, when
I get successful enough, when I get to a, Lord, then look out,
here I come. And God's not interested in any
of that stuff. The devil will accept any excuse you and I have
not to serve God now, even helping us plan tomorrow. I think the
devil has helped a lot of Christians plan what they're going to do
for the Lord tomorrow, or next week, or next year. I think he's
encouraged them to read their Bible tomorrow. I think he's
encouraged them to be a witness tomorrow. I think he's encouraged
them to become faithful to the Lord and come to church next
week. I think he wants you to turn
over a new leaf tomorrow. just so He can use you in whatever
capacity He wants today. The day of small things. Did
you ever consider how small a thing it is to have a desire in your
heart? Just a desire in your heart. Did you ever ache for
something? I'm not talking about something
that's fleshly or filthy or wrong or immoral. I'm just talking
about something that you needed or desired and you just ached
for it. You didn't just say, gee, I want
that. I want one of those and one of those. That's usually
the way we pick things. One among the many choices I have. But
did you ever just find your whole world coming to a stop and dwelling
on one thing and saying, I wish that was part of my life? Very
often it's not a thing. It's usually not a house or a
car or a bank account. Usually it's a characteristic
we see in someone else. Did you ever find yourself looking
in the mirror saying, I wish I was more like, I wish I had the ability that
they have. I wish I could, whatever it was,
fill in the blank. But did you ever find yourself
just aching to have some characteristic that you were void of? wishing
somehow that you could go back to the factory and they could
retrofit you with that characteristic that you seem to be missing.
I know if you're a teenager this morning, you felt that way because
every teenager feels that way. You see, when we're 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, we really don't care
about anything other than having fun and friends. And when you
get to be my age, you realize there ain't nothing you can do,
man. But somehow at that magical age
when hope springs from the depths of the well, you say, oh, if
I could only... and you begin to look at all
those character flaws, you know, my nose is too big, my ears are
too long, my hair is the wrong color, it parts on the wrong
side, or it doesn't part at all, or I'm too tall, or I'm too skinny,
I'm too... whatever it is, we've got a thousand
things that we look at, and we go through adolescence very often
wishing we could be somebody else. And so I'm not just talking
about the trivialities of adolescence. But did you ever just look in
the mirror and say, I'd give anything in the world if I could be that kind
of person? Did you ever get sick of yourself? Did you ever understand the meaning
of just a desirous heart? You know what God looks for when
He looks for people He can use? He looks for a desirous heart. The song simply says, would you
live for Jesus and be always pure and good? Would you walk
with Him within the narrow road? And the answer is simply this,
let Him have His way. But you know why a lot of people
never come to that place in life? Because they've just never had
that ache down inside. They long for the highlights
of this world. They long for the fanfare and
the finances. They long for all the faraway
places. They have a desire to go, to see. They want the success. They want the gusto of life.
And if they are fortunate enough to succeed in acquiring any of
it at all, it usually ends up the same way. You know what I
wish they'd do? I wish they'd put together a
reality show about Hollywood. I mean, I think that would be
really informative. I mean, I think it would just be wonderful to
see the price that these starlets and stars pay and the anguish
they go through to achieve what little measure of success they
achieve. So that their peers who have
paid that price to achieve their little realm of success can applaud
when they hand them a little trophy. And I want to thank the industry.
And I want to thank the people who made this possible. And I
want to thank the doctors who operated and cut off and reattached
and filled up and stretched and pulled and changed colors and
replanted. And I want to thank the people
who made me what I am today, although I don't know who I am.
And we look at that in drool. And in reality, we have no idea
the price they've paid. The hours of anguish. The fear
of the day when they won't be good enough. They won't be young
enough. They won't be pretty enough.
There'll be a has-been and a bygone word the day when they can't
pay the payments on the $3 million mansion anymore and they have
to move out of Hollywood. The day when the IRS comes and
finds out that their manager has been scoundred with all the
money but they still owe the taxes on it. The day they get too old and
when people stand and applaud, it is now applause not out of
respect but out of sympathy. Who would want to be like that?
Would you ever have an ache to do something that would matter
in life? Something that God would be pleased with? I mean, I reckon
years ago, I was going to live somewhere forever. I'm not ever
going to... cease to live. I'm going to live
forever. I found out I could live in one of two places and
I chose real quick where I wanted to live. I made the choice for
heaven. You say, well, that was cowardly.
Call it what you want. I got a mansion. But as soon as I recognized
the fact that I was going to live in heaven one day with all
those other people in heaven, you know what I decided? I decided
I'd like to do something with my life that mattered for God.
And it began with just a desire. I didn't come to God with credentials,
and here's my paperwork, and here's my past employment, and
here's what I've done, and here's what I've succeeded at, and if
you'll just let me, I can do wonderful things for you. I didn't
come to God with anything. I just said, wouldn't it be wonderful
if God could use somebody like me? Wouldn't it be great if God
could just take my menial, meaningless little life and add some of Himself
to it? Who hath despised the day of
Just a desirous heart. Can I ask you this morning, would
you live for Jesus? If you were going to breathe
your breath next Friday, how much of your life this week would
you like to spend getting the God of heaven's attention? Who has despised the day of small
things? Secondly, not just the desirous
heart, but a willing spirit. Boy, you know, that seems like
almost the same thing, but there are chasms between those two.
Because for everybody that has a desirous spirit, there are
very few that ever develop a willing spirit. You say, I don't understand
the difference. Here's the difference. A desirous
heart puts on the parachute and climbs into the airplane. And the plane takes off and soars
to 5,000 feet and then the green light comes on. It is now a willing
spirit that will determine what's going to happen. You understand,
I think there's a lot of people this morning that may say, you
know what, I'd love to serve the Lord. But at the same time, there
are not very many who are willing to do what's necessary to serve
the Lord. "...who hath despised the day of small things, a desirous
heart, a willing spirit." It says, Here am I, Lord. Send me. Isaiah said that in the year
that Uzziah the king died, he went by the church house on his
way back from the funeral. And when he looked inside the
church house, he got a vision of God he'd never had before
in his life. He said, his train filled the temple. He was high
and lofty and lifted up. And Isaiah immediately saw his
own knees. Who am I? Woe am I! I'm undone! I'm a wretch! I'm worthless! And God said, you know, I'm looking
for some people like that. I've got somebody I want to send.
Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And Isaiah
said, here am I. I'll go. Boy, there's a big step
between having a desire and having a willing spirit. You see, the
willing spirit is when the desire gets up and stands on its own
two feet and begins to move in that direction and says, I'm
willing. Boy, well, listen, I don't think
God's looking for somebody this morning with an IQ of 188. I
don't think God's interested in how much iron you can pump. I don't think God really is concerned
with how popular you are. I don't think God gives a rip
about what you can or can't do. You may be as inarticulate. You may be unable to read. I
don't know, but I know this doesn't matter to God. God's looking
for somebody with a desirous heart that says, wouldn't it
be great if I could do something that God would want me to do?
And he's looking for somebody with a willing spirit who says,
Lord, you show me and I'm going. I'm after it. I'm going to do
it. A desirous heart, a willing spirit. May I say, who has despised
a day of the small thing of an abased self? For everybody that
has a desire to serve the Lord and then those who are saying,
you know what, I'm willing to do it. If God will show me, then
the next problem comes in. And that is when he shows us
we have to take self Get self in line because self never likes
doing what God wants us to do I've told the story many times
so I won't tell you the story at all But coming to Toledo was the
last thing I ever had in mind in my life I never want you to
ask me for the top 5287 things I want to do in my life coming
to Toledo would not have been on the list. I Did not want to
come At some point A desirous heart
said, God, I'd like to do something that matters to heaven. I'm not
even wanting to try to impress people in this world, but I'd
like to do something in payment, repayment, an attempted repayment
for the grace given to me. Lord, I'm willing. If you show
me, I'm willing to do what you want me to do. Boy, then he said,
Toledo. I said, where? You've got to
be kidding me. You understand as God brings
us along that pathway at some point, you have to look in the
mirror and say, shut your mouth. Doesn't matter what you think.
Doesn't matter, you know, we become like those who say, well,
I thought that it would be this way. I thought God would say
that. I thought when I surrendered
to preach that God would take me immediately and give me a
church of 12,000 people. And I thought immediately when
God laid on my heart I wanted to do this, that certainly somebody
with my talent would be. And at some point you have to
look and say to self, shut your mouth. You don't matter. I'll
tell you who the people that make the best workers are. They're
the people that don't care what the job is. I mean, I got a lot of folks
sitting here this morning. I'm not going to pick on anybody in particular. But
every once in a while, you have somebody come and say, you know,
Preacher, listen, if you ever need somebody to run this, I can do it. I don't
need anybody to run anything. I avoid people running things
like the plague. In my experience, most of the time when people
run it, they run it into the ground. I have a hard enough time running
things myself just to trust somebody else to run it. You say, well,
what are you looking for? I'm just looking for somebody
who's willing to do anything. Willing to do anything. I've had people
say, preaching, you know, can I straighten the hymn books after
the service? Yeah, you can do that. I've seen
people out there without even being asked. Without even being
asked, they just bend over and pick up paper laying on the floor
in the foyer. Can you imagine such a thing? You know who I find make the
best workers for God? People that just do anything they could
do for God. When they see something that needs to be done, they're
just after it. And they're not always looking around to see
who notices, you know. They don't pick up the little
piece of paper and go... You know what God's looking for?
He's looking for somebody with a desirous heart. Who says, oh God, it would
be a wonderful thing if in the course of my life I could do
one thing that would matter to heaven. And God, I'm willing. If You'd show me, I'm willing
to follow. And Lord, it doesn't matter what it is. Don't consider
my wishes. Not my will. Thine be done. Who's despised the day of a small
thing? Let me give you another one.
How about this? How about the small thing that's considered
when we look at a childlike faith? I spent several hours yesterday
communication with some other folks. And I have a little bit
of a peculiar ideology. I believe, to be honest with
you, that there is intellectualism in our day and then there is
faith. And I hear very often the intellectuals
making fun of people who live by faith. And I feel sorry for
them. I really do. Because the truth
of the matter is they are both valid ways of determining truth. Other than the fact that intellectualism
never leaves you with any truth whatsoever. It's just the pursuit
of truth. Someone said to me, can you prove
there's a God? No. No, I can't. Well, that's
why I'm not a Christian. Can you prove evolution to me? You want to stand up, help yourself.
I've read the books. That's why it's called a theory. Now you tell me which is valid.
Well, you just believe by faith. What does it take to believe
in evolution then? Give me the facts. Give me any fact you want and
within 10 minutes I'll find a dozen scientists who disagree with
your assumption of those evidences. They don't even agree among themselves. Listen, I'm not saying you can't
do it. Help yourself. I've learned enough intellectualism
in the course of my life to shoot holes in any theory you've got
from an intellectual level. You want to talk about the dynamic
of time? You want to talk about EMC equals? You want to talk
about all this? Einstein didn't even believe half of the stuff
that they reportedly said he believed. Relativity in motion, the speed
of light is constant. Einstein didn't believe that.
Read his writings. Well, that's how we believe.
We're not like you poor people who just accept by faith. Shut
up. You read a book. You read a book
or you listen to a guy in a classroom tell you something and you say,
oh, that's just wonderful truth. Don't criticize people who sit
in a church and listen to a preacher open a book and preach out of
that book and go, that's what I believe. I don't see too much difference,
to be honest, other than the fact that you're miserable and
they're happy. The idea of childlike faith.
I talked to the college and career kids this morning. Listen to
me. Paul said to Timothy, listen, Timothy, from a child, you've
known the things you need to know. That ability to trust,
that ability to believe God is what you need to get through.
Just believe what God said. You say, well, you're a free
country, believe what you want to believe. But you know, growing
older has a lot of, it helps you a lot with that faith thing. You know, there's some things
I know today that I accepted by faith 20 years ago. And I'm glad I accepted them
by faith 20 years ago, because I've enjoyed them for 20 years.
Some of you would have waited, you know, until the textbook
came out and said, well, it's OK now. We've proved it. Yeah, OK,
we can get that. Unlike those people of faith. I believe God
is looking for somebody that's willing just to trust Him. Just to trust him. I remember
the first time I ever preached. I remember it because it is etched
into my memory. I'll never forget it. I remember
distinctly having the thought, who in the world ever thought
of this? I remember thinking, now the
Lord will let me go do what I wanted to do because he's now seen what
a mess I can make of things. Human disaster. Now, God, let
me go do what I want to do. At some point, you just have
to say, God, listen, I wouldn't have made that decision. And
to be quite frank, I know you're God and I'm not. But that doesn't
sound like a very sane decision to me. But you're God and I'm
not. I'll just trust you. I'll just
trust you. You know what God's looking for?
He's looking for somebody that when everything turns against
you, And all the winds of doubt and despair blow. Somebody that'll
just look yonder and say, Lord, it doesn't make any sense, but
I'll trust you. I'll trust you. You know, as
a child, I don't remember one time ever asking my father whether
we had enough money to pay for our bills. I never once asked
him. I never once asked him if we
had enough money to buy groceries. I would ask him if he'd buy me
a candy bar or he'd stop at the store and get me this or he'd
get me that. I would ask him to buy this for me. But I just always
assumed there was a limitless supply of money somewhere that
belonged to the Sowell family. It was not until I was way on
up in years and had a job and began to work for a living that
I realized that we didn't have an endless supply of money. But you know why I didn't ask
my dad? I just trusted him. That's what dads do. Dads pay
the bills and dads pay for food at McDonald's. And that's all
I knew. But just as a child, I remember
taking our own kids years ago and we'd always we're going to
stop for dinner and they always had their favorite spot, which
was McDonald's with the playland. And I remember telling our kids
one day on the way home from church, I said, kids, listen, mom and
dad don't have any money today. And my son, intellectual giant
that he is from the back seat said, yeah, but you have checks. He couldn't spell check. He had
no idea what a check was. He just knew that dad had checks
and dad was good. If he wanted to stop, dad could
take us into any restaurant in this town and my dad could buy
us food anywhere we wanted to eat. He just had, you know, he
just trusted me blindly. Boy, you know what God could
do with you if you just learn to trust Him blindly and say,
God, listen, whatever you want to do. Who hath despised the
day of small things? Who despised the day of just
an encouraging word? Just an encouraging word. You
say, what's that got to do with me? You say, I need an encouraging
word. No, no, you need to learn to
give an encouraging word. I've preached for years. You
ought to be an encouragement to other people because they need encouragement. You need to be a help to other
people because they need help. You need to say good things to
other people because they need to hear them. But in the course
of my ministry, I've developed another reality, and that is
that whether they need to hear it or not, you need to learn
to say it because it's good for you to say those things. One of the things God chastises
the human race for in Romans chapter 1 was their inability
to say thank you and to show appreciation to the God that
gave them everything. Somewhere along the way, you
ought to just find somebody this morning at random and say, I
don't know who you are, but I appreciate you because you're in church
on Sunday morning. I don't know where you work, but I appreciate
you. We ought to just show some appreciation. It's good for us
to just speak an encouraging word. Somebody asked me, he said, how
do you get friends? I'll tell you how you get friends. You show
yourself friendly. Well, what does that mean? That means pass
out $20 bills, knucklehead. Anybody like that needs friends?
See me after the service. You want to show yourself friendly?
You can't do it without making a sacrifice. And I'm not talking
about finances. Open your mouth. Be nice. Say something. Who hath despised the day? Do
you understand how many people have achieved things simply because
somebody said, I think you could do it? We could take the next five hours
and we won't, but we could talk about how many people came to
the end of themselves in whatever pursuit it was. They were ready
to quit, they were ready to throw in the towel, and if you read
their biography, it's running almost the same. They would say
this, I came to the end of my road, and I was ready to quit,
and I couldn't go on anymore. This was just a disaster. And
then they always, you know how the story goes, they always go
to somebody that showed up, call them on the phone, send them
a letter, and gave them that boost of encouragement, and they
went on and achieved the heights. Same story world over. You say,
wow, I wish somebody would do that for me. Well, I can't guarantee
that. How about this? How about you call and do it
for somebody else? You say, well, wait a minute.
I thought we wanted to do something for God. Maybe God's not going to make
you the top guy on the totem pole. But maybe God will let
you encourage the guy who will become the top guy on the totem
pole. Dr. Heil's testimony is a tremendous
testimony of a little boy with a drunk father who beat his mom. She took her kids to church one
day out of despair. She didn't even have shoes to
put on her son's feet, so she took him barefooted in overhauls.
He talked about how embarrassed he felt when she took him into
the church and all the other little boys and girls had on the little
suits and ties and little shiny shoes. He was there in overhauls
with bare feet. And he talked about how when
they put him in a Sunday school class and his mom left him and he felt
so alone that the Sunday school teacher looked back there and
saw his obvious discomfort and She called little Jackie boy
and brought him down to the front of that class and picked him
up and set him as just a little boy on her lap. And he said,
she was the first person in my whole life that ever told me
that Jesus loved me. He said, when I left that class
this morning, he said, I'd forgotten about having bare feet and overalls
on. He said, because I knew that Jesus loved me and he thought
I was special and he thought I was some, you know who she
was. I don't either. I have no idea who she was. But
I know at one point in his ministry, he pastored close to 100,000
people. Just a little encouragement. Who hath despised the day of
small things? You that are weary, hang on,
I'm almost done. A desirous heart's a small thing.
A willing spirit's a small thing. An abased self, that's a small
thing. A childlike faith, that's a small
thing. An encouraging word. Hasn't cost
you a dime yet, has it? But that's what gets heaven's
attention. Let me give you my last two, and they're kindred.
So, who has despised the day of, you ready for this? Your
best effort. Just your best effort. I'm tired
of people trying to prophesy the results before they're in
and then saying, well, they're not going to be good, so why
try? It's called circular fail, you're guaranteed. Well, you
need to try this. Yeah, but if I tried it, you
know, I wouldn't get that far. I'd get to here. And since I'd
only get to here, I just won't even try. And so you never go
anywhere, but you feel justified in doing it. You become a sloth,
but you become, you know, a recognized sloth because you've got some
logic to it. What is there in your life that
you can honestly say, I did my best? I did my best. What is there
in your life? You can say, if anybody that
wanted to testify could testify this morning. Anybody who was
there. Anybody that saw. Anybody that watched. Anybody
that was associated with it. I'll guarantee you, there's nobody
that would deny. Even though I failed or I succeeded,
it doesn't matter. I did my best and they all know
it. I wonder how many things there
are like that in your life. Or if I wonder, perhaps like
me, you'd probably hang your head and say, well, I tried,
but... I wish I'd tried a little harder,
meaning I didn't do my best. We sing the song that says, I
wonder, have I done my best for Jesus? And the story of that
is an unusual story of an Olympic training swimmer who lived in
Chicago. And in the course of his training
for the Olympics, there was a ship that caught fire. as it was making
its way into the port there in Chicago back in the late 1800s,
early 1900s, somewhere in that vicinity. And as they began to
watch that ship burn, it was obvious that it was not going
to find any place of safety, no land, no place to get its
passengers off. The people began to jump off
the boat and into the cold, frigid winter waters. And he immediately
leaped into the water, swam out as far as he could, got hold
of someone who was on the verge of perishing and swam back to
the shore. But instead of getting out of
the water, he turned and swam back out again. And then again. And then again. Until literally those who were
life savers by profession, who would not go in the frigid waters,
pulled him out. and lay him on the shores of
the same water that he had pulled as many as he could. And the
story said that when they tried to wrap him, hoping just to keep
him alive because by all practical points he'd killed himself, he kept saying under the duress
of his situation, I tried to do my best. Did I do my best?
I'm trying. Did I do my best? As a result
of that, he was handicapped for the rest of his life. He was
never in the Olympics. Never able to swim ever again.
Ruined his body. But someone saw that story and
set out and penned the words that we sing as a hymn. I wonder,
have I done my best for Jesus? Listen, do you see them out there
struggling today on their way to hell? Can you see it in their eyes?
They have no hope. The smile that they laugh is just ridicule
at you, but it covers the veil of tears because there's no hope
there. They're on the verge of dropping
off into an eternal abyss that burns day and night forever. Do you see them? Have you done
your best? Who hath despised the day of
the best effort? And then let me close with this,
because I said it's kindred to it. You say, Preacher, I honestly,
I tried my best. I've worked my best in my heart.
And Preacher, it just didn't work. OK, let me give you my
last point. Let me give you that small little
thing. How about this? Who's despised the day of a second
effort? A second effort. You say, well, I tried once and
it didn't work, so that's it for me. Can I tell you how many
times people fail on the first try? At virtually any endeavor
there is. Can I tell you how many guys
were trying to become a millionaire and went bankrupt before they
ever became a millionaire? Can I tell you how many people
tried to learn a trade or a craft or an art and they failed so
miserably that No one ever thought they'd make it and then they
tried again. There's the story of an Italian mother who, you'd
have to be Italian I suppose to understand this, they like
opera. I don't know why. And she wanted her son to be
trained and to become an opera singer. And she sent him off
to take music lessons and the note came back home that said,
This child is tone deaf. The one thing he will never be
is an opera singer. And she got that message and
she read it and she said that we're just going to try harder.
And so she sent her little son, Enrico Caruso, back to take more
lessons. And next to Pavarotti, he's probably
the greatest name in all of opera. He became the greatest opera
tenor there ever was because his mama said, we'll just try
again. Maybe we need to get another teacher. I remember when Thomas
Alva Edison went off to elementary school, his mother got a teacher
very much like that who said, the note said, this child is
unteachable. You know, most of us today are
further along in life because we had a mama or a daddy that
just refused to accept defeat. And when we failed, they picked
us up and dusted us off and put us back on the bike and said,
try again. When we couldn't hit the hoop, they put the ball back
in our hand and said, shoot it again. When we didn't seem to
be able to get the algebra, they set us down and opened the book
and they said, study it again. You say, I didn't like it. You
may not have liked it, but you probably appreciate the fact now that
they did what they did. Well, let me go one step further. When's
the last time you did that to yourself? When's the last time the devil
knocked you down and you just got up and you dusted yourself
off? You said to all the spectators,
I failed. I messed up. Loser. And then
you said, I'm going to try again. Oh, a little thing. A little
thing. But wouldn't you hate to get to heaven and find out
you were just that close to God saying, that's the guy I can
use right there? He has some distinct, Zerubbabel characteristics. reminds me of Zerubbabel there. You know what? I believe, oh,
he can't do a thing. That's wonderful. He's inept. He's incompetent. But he loves
me and he's trusting me. Hey, Gabriel, Michael, come here. Watch what I can do. God picks
up the nothings of the world and has people drooling and scratching
their head when it's all over with saying, I can't believe
that. And God says, watch what I can do. Would you bow your
heads this morning? Your life may have failure written
all over it. You say, that's terrible. No,
that may be really good. That may be really good. You
say, why? Because that's who God's looking
for. That's who God's looking for. He's looking for that guy
who's not too big to be little. But He's not too little to be
big. We'll say, God, I'm just small and meaningless and nothing.
But God, if You can use me, I have a desire to serve You. I have
a willingness, Lord. I trust You to do the right thing
with my life. God, I want to be an encouragement
to other people, and I can do that right here. Who is there
that can take those small things and incorporate them into their
life? The end result, may I say to you, is not seeing what you
can accomplish, but seeing what a great, great God can accomplish. Who hath despised the day of
small things. 496 is the hymn. Would you stand
this morning? Folks are here at the altar.
In just these next few minutes, I want to invite you You say,
what would it be saying if I walked down that aisle, preacher? I
don't know. You tell me. What would it be saying? You
say, well, I'm not going to have anybody think that about me.
Well, then you don't need to come because God's not going
to do anything with you. I can tell you that right now. But you know, if you're
not ashamed to look like nothing, God's able to use nothing to
do great things. If you're not ashamed to say incompetent, if
you're not ashamed to say unworthy, if you're not ashamed to say
the least of the choices, God says, let me show you what I
can do with such as that. If you're here this morning,
you never put your faith and trust in Christ. You need to get saved. You missed
it all. You need to get saved. You're
going to die and go to hell someday. Religious, moral, upright, good
fella, good gal. You're going to burn in hell.
Do you get that? That's not my opinion. That's not the Baptist
church's teaching. That's what this book says. The world says,
try to be a nicer person. What good is that going to do
in hell? There's only one thing you can
do this morning. If you've never trusted Christ, that's trust
Him now before you leave this building. Get saved. You say, well, who has despised
the day of a small thing? How about this next few moments
you've got to do something for God? A moment of choice for you. You're going to despise that?
You're going to use it. Let's sing the song 496 all to Jesus
I surrender you ever come to that place where he said God
you take it You do what you can do with it. I can't do anything
with it. It's worthless Stand ready to be amazed Because God
can do beyond what you can imagine If you just let him while we
sing would you come? I surrender all to Him I freely
give I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live
I surrender all I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender, Lord,
I give myself to Thee. Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me. I surrender all. I surrender
all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. We're going to be dismissed,
and I appreciate your attentiveness this morning. Hope God spoke
to your heart. I want to do something this morning back there. There
is a couple here who have been unable to be here on Sunday night
for the last several weeks, who just, I think about three weeks
ago, celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. The Auschwackers
are back there, all the way at the back. So if everybody turns
around, you can see them, okay? And they are a blessing to us.
And we would have sung to them, but they evidently didn't want
to hear us. And so, John, how about, real quick, sweeter, as
the years go by, for them. You sing that to them for their
anniversary, would you? Sweeter as the years go by. Sweeter as the years go by. Richer, fuller, deeper. Jesus'
love is sweeter. Sweeter as the years go by. Amen. All right. Father, thank
you for the day. Lord, thank you for your book. Thank you
for using nothing. Lord, because where would we
be if you'd had to have any qualifications at all? We wouldn't have made
it. Thank you for what you've done for us, not what we've done
for you, what you've done for us. And Lord, I pray today that
somebody was brought closer to the Lord, maybe to that place
where you will indeed use them to accomplish what needs to be
done. Bless us now. Gather us back tonight. May we
enjoy the services this evening. Take us safely to our homes.
We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You are dismissed. God
bless you.
God Uses Small Things
| Sermon ID | 72111719580 |
| Duration | 1:05:24 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Zechariah 4 |
| Language | English |
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