SERMON TITLE: “Small Acts Can Make a Big Splash”

Happy Sabbath!!!!

text Luke 13:18-21.

We are looking at the idea that it doesn’t take big things all the time to make a difference.
God often uses small things in His Kingdom.

There is a passage of scripture that is found in Zechariah 4:10, Zachariah is receiving a vision,
concerning the work of a man named Zerubbabel in restoring the temple and the angel asked,
“Who has despised the day of small things?”

• We have come to believe that bigger is always better.

• We tend to recognize, respect, and remember those things in life that are big, while we tend
to give little thought to the small things.

• Our secular world is mandated by the “Big I little you syndrome.”

• The Devil loves to use this false theology against us as Christians by saying things to us like:

o You are not good enough

o You are not significant

o You don’t have enough money

o You don’t have enough talent

• When it comes to spiritual matters bigger is not always better

• God does not look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.” Elbert Hubbard an
American Philosopher 1856-1915

This brings us to our text this morning found in the book of Luke chapter 13.

Jesus tells two parables back to back. Luke 13:18-21.

1. One was the Parable of the Mustard Seed

2. The second one was the parable of the Leaven

FIRST PARABLE

18 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

I think Jesus was probably looking around and saying, “Um, let me see, and he saw a mustard
bush and said, “ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew
and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."

In this first example Jesus said, God’s working is like a mustard seed, which a man took and
planted in his garden, it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its
branches.
The mustard seed is very, very small. They actually looked like coffee grounds and to get one
you had to wet the tip of your finger and let them stick to your finger.

The mustard seed was the smallest seed ever sown by first-century farmers in Israel when
Jesus was here on the earth.

You have used or heard the expression about someone, “That person has a pea brain.” If you
were here in Jesus day you would have said, “That person has a mustard seed brain.”

That may have been what Mary said to Joseph when they forgot Jesus and left him in
Jerusalem when he was only 12 years of age. I can just hear her now, “You mustard brain.”

When I think of that story I always feel like Joseph got the blame for it.

Here is the comparison in the parable, even thought the mustard seed was the smallest seed
it grew into the largest of herbs grown in that area. It grew anywhere from 8-12 feet tall and
its limbs were so big birds would come and nest in it.

So you have the first comparison that Jesus was making, “I am taking something very small
and making something very large out of it.”

20 And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?

I don’t know, I am reading between the lines here, but I think Jesus thought they aren’t getting
this so I have to give them another illustration.

Again, He used something they were used to seeing. Ladies bake bread, because of the lack
of preservatives they had to bake bread everyday when Jesus was here on earth.

When a lady would bake bread today she would take a little bit of the dough and put it back to
put in her dough the next day. She would take that small lump of dough and knead it into the
new mixture and that little bit of dough would influence the entire batch of dough.

21 The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal till it was all leavened."

Even though the original ball of yeast was small, it would have a huge influence.

WHAT WAS JESUS TEACHING.

it wasn’t about horticulture or baking. He was revealing a kingdom truth and it was this:

“When it comes to spiritual things, God uses small things to do BIG stuff.”

• When God wanted to create a new nation to call His own, He didn’t use a large established
family, instead he Abraham and Sara who appeared too old to have children.

• When God wanted to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, He used Noah rejected by his
own people, felt like he was a failure and had spent 40 years keeping sheep.

• When God decided to send a rain at the end of the drought in the days of Elijah, he used a
cloud about the size of a man’s hand to declare the sound of abundance of rain.

• When Jesus wanted to feed 5,000 people, he used a small boy’s small lunch to do it.

• When Jesus was watching people give, he wasn’t impressed by the big donors but a widow’s
penny.
 • When God came to earth as a human He didn’t choose a rich and famous family to be a
part, He came as a baby born in a barn to a poor family living in Nazareth.

“When it comes to spiritual things, God uses small things to do BIG stuff.”

What we might see as too small insignificant to matter, God sees as something He wants to
use to accomplish His purpose.

1. Who is our representative in Miss Universe? Alexie Brooks

3. Name 10 people Celebrity.

4. Name the Academy Award winners for best actor and actress in 1980’s.

Here’s another quiz four more questions

1. List a teacher who aided your journey through school.

2. Name a friend that helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name someone who taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of someone who made you feel appreciated and special.

The people who made a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the
most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who do the little things with a big heart.

Most of the times we don’t realize we are even doing the things that makes the greatest
impact on someone’s life.

God uses the small things in our lives to do great, big things but we can sometimes miss them because
we tend to overlook, underestimate, or even ignore the things that God has already put in our lives. We
really need to remember that with God, the “big” is in the “little”. This passage explains…

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will
make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord’” (Matt. 25:23 NKJ).
This passage describes the joy of the master when a servant is faithful with the resources and
responsibilities given him, and how a servant’s faithfulness with little things earns a master’s trust and
blessings. When we are faithful in the small things, God is pleased and adds bigger things to us.

Today I’d like to talk about a couple of the people in the Bible that you may not have ever thought twice
about. At first glance, their presence may seem insignificant but there’s a lesson there for us. The first is a
lady by the name of Lydia. Lydia hasn’t gotten a lot of attention or headlines. She is not an Esther, a Ruth,
or even a Mary. In fact, she is only mentioned once, but her name is in the Bible – the greatest book ever
written. Lydia meets the Apostle Paul and some of the disciples in Acts and with her heart for hospitality,
she invites them over to her house.

1. “One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth. She was a worshiper of
God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She
was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. ‘If you
 agree that I am faithful to the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my home.’ And she urged us until we
did.” (Acts 16:14-15 NLT)

Little did Lydia know that after she invited Paul to her house, he would write a letter to her home town
that would be seen by millions of people, 2,000 years later, watching a World Championship boxing fight.
Some of you may remember that heavyweight boxing championship match between Many pacquio and
may Weather.
Pacquiao said "I had a torn shoulder" as well as "I thought I won the fight. He's moving around. It's not easy to throw
punches when he's moving around so much. It's not about size. Size doesn't matter. I fought bigger. I thought I caught
him many more times than he caught me.
.
You see, sometimes when it comes to God, the big is in the little.

You never know whose life you will touch. You never know whose heart you will reach with an act of
hospitality or kindness. Do you think that Lydia had any idea that the Apostle Paul, whom she extended a
hospitality to, would eventually author 13 books of the Bible? And that his writings and teachings would
revolutionize the church from that day until now and beyond.

The point is…just as Lydia had no idea how her acts may have helped enable God’s plan, we may not
think twice about how occurrences or opportunities in our lives that God may eventually use in a big way.
You might not recognize the potential for big results, or you might not even see the results of your labor
right away, but whatever you do, don’t overlook the small things.

Perhaps you’ve heard Pastor Wayne talk about Mordechai Hammond. He was a traveling evangelist who
did tent revival meetings all across the United States. One day, when the weather was bad, hardly anyone
showed up for Mordechai’s service. When it came time for the altar call, Mordechai could’ve forgone the
altar call because there were so few people there that it’d hardly seem worth it. But Mordechai was faithful
and a handful of people came forward to accept Jesus Christ into their lives that day. One of those people
was a boy by the name of William Graham – better known as Billy Graham. Mordechai could’ve gotten
discouraged and not done an altar call but he was faithful to God’s calling and God took his “little” and
converted it into a “big” – the saving of Billy Graham who in turn has helped save tens of thousands.

Can you always see whose life you may touch? No. You never know how your influence on a person may
touch someone or be passed on to someone else, or how that person you reached out to with a simple
phone call could turn out to be great influence to others.

We first heard about Lydia, a woman mentioned only once in the Bible, but the next story is about a young
boy whose name we don’t even know. Talk about being insignificant but he helped enable one of the
greatest miracles ever recorded in the Bible. The story is about when Jesus multiplied the loaves of bread
and the fish to feed the multitudes. This young boy that we speaking about remembered to bring his lunch
and Jesus was able to take what little the boy had to offer and turn it into something very great.
Thousands were blessed by his gift. This shows us…

· A KIND GESTURE OR AN ACT OF LOVE IS NEVER TOO SMALL FOR GOD TO USE.

The Bible says:

2. “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward He
did the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full.” (John 6:11)

God took the little that boy had and turned it into something great. Sometimes God’s big is in the little. We
might think we have very little to offer to God but He can take whatever we bring and turn it into a mighty
miracle. This story ends not only with everybody full, but with twelve baskets of food leftover because our
God is a God of more-than-enough!
That’s the kind of God we serve; He puts the big in the little. If we are thankful for the small things, He will
add unto us the greater things. If He sees that we are faithful in the little things He puts before us, God will
say, “Ah yes, I can trust him. He is doing the best with what little he has. Now, I will add onto him.”

So like the young boy with the loaves of bread and fish, we might think we have little or nothing to offer;
but he gave what little he had to Jesus and the Lord turned the situation around and multiplied it into a
great miracle. The two things we can learn from that story are:

· NO ONE IS INSIGNIFICANT IN GOD’S KINGDOM.

You might think you are insignificant, but you aren’t. God wants to do significant things in you. Also:
· BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT LITTLE YOU MAY HAVE.
It’s a simple thing to do…to be thankful. There are so many people in the world who have practically
nothing yet what do we do (with all that we have)? We grumble. There I was grumbling when I was so
blessed. I just needed to open my eyes.

God wants to take His big and put it on our little. He wants to take the biggest thing – the greatest thing
He has to offer, His Son Jesus Christ – and come and live through us and our little old lives. Can you
imagine that?

I don’t know where you have been, or what you are going through. Life is not about that. It’s about where
you are going. It’s about how you get back up. You may think you are small in God’s kingdom but God
wants to do something major, something huge, in you.

Maybe you are like me; you want to be considered a good and faithful servant. You want to say, “Lord, I
underestimated and ignored the small things You placed before me. I want to be a thankful person and
someone You can trust.” God has placed so many small things in our lives to check our hearts and see if
we are faithful. He also wants to add on so much more. When it comes to God, the big is in the little.

At my lowest point in life when I felt insignificant and worthless, God did a big miracle in what little was left
of me. He can do the same for you (and do the same through you) if you let Him. A kind gesture or an act
of love is never too small for God to use, and no one is insignificant in God’s kingdom. And remember to
be thankful for what little you may have.

Thank you so much for having me share with you. God bless everyone.